


Born Alliances

by cheyla



Series: The Born Series [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-16 13:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 28,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4626921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheyla/pseuds/cheyla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto thought that once he left the Village Hidden by the Animals behind, he would never go back. He thought that all of the Village's and his secrets were firmly buried. Turns out that it's not that simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to Born on a Border, so if you haven't read it yet, you should probably go do that. Otherwise things might get confusing. XP. This is currently a WIP on Fanfiction so once I've caught up posting on here, updates will be happening once a month. Enjoy!

The Hokage Monument was one of the first things Naruto spotted as he and Jiraiya broke through the tree line and approached Konoha. With a small smile, he took note of Grandma Tsunade's face on the mountain, marking her position as the fifth Hokage. So they had finally gotten around to adding it, had they? Now her likeness would be remembered for years to come, long after her death, unlike…

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the thought. He wouldn't think on that anymore. He was back in Konoha, where his allegiances lied and where he belonged. Konoha was his home.

As the gates came into sight, Jiraiya and Naruto traded meaningful looks. After a minute, Naruto inclined his head in understanding.

Silently he apologized to the fox inside of him. The inhabitants of Konoha wouldn't understand, so he would have to suppress the Kyuubi more than he had been doing on the journey back. The fox—Kurama, Naruto forced himself to remember—grumbled but didn't protest or try to break free. Over the journey home, he and Naruto had seemed to reach an understanding.

As Kurama returned to the cage he called home, Naruto's vision lost its tint of red and the shinobi could feel his senses dull. He grimaced at the feeling, an action caught by Jiraiya.

"It's necessary," he informed the blonde.

"I know," Naruto responded. By now the gates loomed above them. "Time to make an entrance, I guess."

As they strolled through the gates, Naruto could see the heads turning and people doing double takes upon seeing them. If he hadn't suppressed the Kyuubi's strengthened senses, he would have been able to hear the whispers as well. As they made their way to the center of the village, Naruto glanced down, wondering how the population of Konoha viewed him now.

He knew he had changed since he had left a few years ago. His new uniform was proof of that.

Naruto glanced around the village and spotted some shops and streets that looked unfamiliar. Clearly he wasn't the only one that had changed.

Face blank, he started to climb the nearest pole, curious to see just how much the village had changed in his absence. Jiraiya sighed and shook his head with a small smile. He knew what the boy must have been feeling. It was a strange feeling, coming home after a long absence. There were always some changes, but for the most part everything was the same. With the familiarity, most people expected it to be easy to fall into old routines and habits, not realizing that it would be difficult because they themselves had changed. Jiraiya hoped that Tsunade would be able to get Naruto back on missions quickly enough. The boy would need something to keep himself occupied and not focused on how much he and others had changed.

Naruto gazed at the village below him. Everything seemed so bright and busy. It was a far cry from—

He cut those thoughts off and busied himself by trying to find his landmarks. He easily spotted his old apartment building and the Hokage tower. He also located Ichiraku's and his stomach rumbled at the sight.

Then his eyes wandered to the outskirts of the village, where the clan compounds lie. They looked so still and peaceful. Naruto narrowed his blue eyes to make out the clan sigils that graced the entrances. Nara, Hyuuga, Uchiha…

The blue-eyed shinobi clenched his hands into fists and stiffened as he thought he saw a bloodied shinobi lying in the street, dead. Within seconds, five others, then eight accompanied the body. The faces were familiar and Naruto could practically hear their dying cries. The blonde clenched his jaw and stilled his breaths, afraid that if he breathed too deeply that he would be able to smell and taste the blood.

"Naruto!"

Blue eyes blinked and the bloodied bodies were gone. He let out the breath he was holding. It had been a memory.

Just a memory.

"Naruto!" The shinobi glanced down toward the base of the pole he was standing on and his lips lifted upward into a smile.

"Sakura!" he called as he made his descent. His old teammate was a welcome sight.

The two stared at each other in silence, large grins on their faces as they sized each other up.

"You've gotten taller," Sakura finally remarked. "You're taller than me now."

Naruto's grin widened as he let out a cheer. Sakura watched him fondly before asking, "What about me? Do I look different?"

Naruto only took a few seconds to examine her before stating, "Don't worry, Sakura! You haven't changed at all."

When his cheek swelled up from the resulting punch, Naruto wondered what he said wrong. Sakura still looked like Sakura with her bright pink hair and green eyes. Plus, she was alive, which was more important to Naruto than any change she could have undergone.

Jiraiya shook his head. Same old clueless Naruto. "I would have thought that someone would have taught you what not to say to girls," he sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean, Pervy Sage?" Naruto demanded. Jiraiya refused to answer and began walking away.

"Stop stalling, Naruto," he called behind him. "We need to go see the Hokage and let her know that we're back." Jiraiya didn't even bother to look back to see if Naruto was following him. He already knew that the younger shinobi was by the sheer loudness that constantly surrounded Naruto.

As the trio of shinobi made their way to the Hokage tower, Jiraiya wondered how the next few weeks were going to go. Would Naruto find it easy to return to his old routine in Konoha? Or would he long for something more? Something he had left behind?


	2. Chapter 2

Tsunade sighed. Months of hard work had now been destroyed, thanks to the Akatsuki. Since the attack on Suna, requests and demands had been flooding not only Suna but also Konoha to demand that the upcoming Chuunin exams be moved elsewhere.

Unfortunately, there were a few teams that had already started their journey to Suna, if they hadn't already arrived. Gaara and the council of shinobi elders in Suna had agreed to the Chuunin exams being moved, as long as it wasn't too far from Suna and where they would have originally took place. That meant limited options, but one had been chosen and the plans had been sent to Tsunade for review.

There were three reasons why she wasn't exactly thrilled with these changes. The first was the most obvious. Such a blatant change always meant more paperwork that she needed to go through.

The second reason was the village itself. She had never heard of it before. From the surrounding villages, there were rumours that it had been around decades before but it had disappeared. Now it seemed that as of a few months ago, it was back and growing. It just didn't make sense to the fifth Hokage. Shinobi villages disappearing were a common enough occurrence and she didn't really question it but the reemergence was something strange. She didn't like the lack of information there was about this village.

Which led to the third reason she wasn't thrilled. The ones that might have had any information about the village were gone, with the exception of possibly Jiraiya and Naruto, but they had made no mentions of such a village in their reports.

The Hokage sighed again.

She just had to resign herself that there was always the possibility of something going wrong in these Chuunin exams and would have to send some of her better jounin under the guise of being the teachers of the teams.

Speaking of teams…

There was a knock on the door. Right on time, for once.

"Enter!" she called. A group of nine entered. The confusion they felt was apparent on some of the faces of the younger shinobi.

"Due to the recent attack in Suna, the Chuunin exams are no longer taking place there," she began explaining. "They have been moved and I don't feel comfortable sending more than one genin team to an unknown village. As such, I've selected Team Ebisu to be the participants. Ebisu, you have admitted that you feel that your students are ready to try their hand at the exams and if something were to go wrong, I feel like they would be the best equipped to handle the situation. Shikamaru, you'll be going as my representative. Try to gain as much information about this village as you can. They're new and our information is lacking. I want to remedy this."

Shikamaru nodded silently.

"Team Kakashi will be going with you to watch the exams and be back-up if you would need any. They'll be under Shikamaru's orders during the duration of the exams and traveling to the village and back. Suna has sent a guide to lead you to the village and I'm sure their teams are already on their way to the village. You'll leave at dawn and the exams are due to begin in a week's time."

"What village has the location for the Chuunin exams been changed to?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade glanced down at the report in front of her before looking up again.

"It's called the Village Hidden by the Animals," she said. She watched Naruto carefully as she made her announcement, in case he did know of the village and had forgotten to include it in reports.

There was no sign of recognition in his eyes. He simply looked troubled, a look which had formed as soon as she had mentioned the Chuunin exams. No doubt he was upset that he hadn't been chosen to undergo the Chuunin exams this round but there was simply no other team she could put him with. All of the current genin teams were operating with three healthy members.

As the nine left Tsunade's office, the Hokage could already hear Naruto begin to complain. With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head and watched the door close.

"Man, this sucks," Naruto grumbled. "This is going to be a whole lot of sitting around, isn't it? I don't want to sit around and do nothing for over a month! I'd rather be in the Chuunin Exams myself."

"Well, it'll give you plenty of time to train," Sakura said. "Maybe next time Tsunade will be able to find a team to place you on."

Naruto grumbled under his breath. He didn't want to be placed on a random team if he ever underwent the Chuunin Exams again. He wanted to be on his original team but that would be impossible. Sakura was already a chuunin and Sasuke had left the village.

Jiraiya was lingering outside the Hokage tower, debating if he wanted to go inside and deal with Tsunade. He had heard the rumors about the Chuunin Exams being moved and knew she would be in a foul mood if the rumors were true.

"Taking off?" he asked Kakashi as the team passed by.

"In the morning," Kakashi replied. "Will you come see us off again?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe, there's something I need to talk to Naruto about if you don't get back before I leave again. How long will you be gone?"

"Until the Chuunin Exams are finished."

There was Jiraiya's opening to determine how bad Tsunade's mood would be. "Is it true? Are they being moved to a different village?"

Kakashi nodded. "Someplace called the Village Hidden by the Animals."

Jiraiya stiffened and he glanced at Naruto, whose head had jerked up upon hearing the name. Jiraiya shook his head subtly in Naruto's direction, hoping that he wouldn't say anything.

"You recognize it?" Kakashi asked, picking up on the faint cues. Naruto turned away, leaving Jiraiya to give the explanations.

"The name, yes," Jiraiya said. "It's supposedly located within the Untravelable Forest. Its shinobi don't often leave the village."

"It would be hard to do so if the forest is named the Untravelable Forest," Kakashi commented blandly. "We're to have a guide, supposedly. That should make things a bit easier."

Overhearing his words, Sakura began to comment about how lazy Kakashi could be at times. Naruto joined in after a second, trying to pretend that everything was back to normal.

Jiraiya wondered what Naruto would do if he recognized the guide. It seemed that he would have to talk to the boy as soon as possible.

"Hey, Naruto!" he called, distracting the boy from his shouts. "I want to take you out for ramen before you leave. Let's go!"

Naruto glanced up at the word ramen but he looked at Jiraiya warily. After two and a half years, he knew that nothing was ever completely free unless things were really serious.

Kakashi sighed. He knew that he hadn't been given all of the information that Jiraiya had but hopefully he could get it out of Naruto on the trip.

"What's up, Pervy-Sage?" Naruto asked as the pair walked away from the rest of Team Kakashi. Jiraiya looked around but couldn't see anyone in obvious hearing distance that would think to listen in on their conversation.

"The Village Hidden by the Animals, huh?" he asked. Naruto's face darkened.

"It's the first time we've heard anything of the village since we've left," he said. "At least this means it wasn't completely destroyed by their civil war."

"What are you going to do if you see…" Jiraiya trailed off, looking for the word. Was teammate really the right word? They had been teammates for a brief time but Konoha didn't know of that time.

"It would only be Akahana," Naruto pointed out. "Yuri fled and Izo is…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"The second one might have returned after the fighting stopped." Jiraiya said quietly. "And what about the fox clan? What if you run into survivors?"

Naruto scuffed the ground with his sandal, thinking.

"I'll deal with it when the times comes," he said. "I'll be happy to see them and to know that they're alive but I know that my place is here in Konoha." He didn't sound completely convinced about the latter half of the sentence.

"You need to think about these things, Naruto," Jiraiya scolded. "And you need to be careful. What do you think will happen if the Akatsuki finds out that you have ties to the village? They won't strike Konoha because of its size and numerous alliances but the Village Hidden by the Animals doesn't have anything of the sort. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack by the Akatsuki."

Naruto frowned. He knew Jiraiya was right but he also knew that there were too many secrets among the clans of the Village Hidden by the Animals that the shinobi would die to keep. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack but Naruto knew that they would rather all die than give up their clan secrets to the shinobi. An attack would be preferable than being invaded by the Akatsuki.

"Be careful," Jiraiya repeated. "Try not to reveal everything you know. I know that's hard for you—"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"But don't try to be overly friendly to those you were close to, especially in the fox clan. And don't use any of their jutsu, especially—"

"That one," Naruto finished. "But Pervy-Sage, how am I supposed to get any better at it if I'm not allowed to use it?"

"Your body has its limits," Jiraiya replied. "You were lucky last time but you might not be again. Your body can't handle what that jutsu entails."

"Others can handle it," Naruto muttered, thinking of one kunoichi in particular. Jiraiya placed both of his hands on Naruto's shoulders and forced the blonde to look up at him.

"You are not those others," he said. "Your body can't handle it so don't even try. Don't use that jutsu."

After a few seconds, Naruto gave a silent nod that was quite reluctant.

"Fine," he agreed. "I won't use that jutsu." Unless it was absolutely necessary.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto tried not to protest at the early hour when he stumbled his way to the gate the next morning. He wasn't the first one to arrive, but neither was he late. As the blonde approached the gate, he looked around to see who was already waiting. Shikamaru, Sakura, Ebisu, and a grumpy-looking Konohamaru, along with a shinobi that didn't bear the mark of Konoha.

The blonde slowed his pace as he looked over their guide to the Village Hidden by the Animals. He didn't recognize who it was, but he supposed that was only natural. He couldn't have met all of the shinobi in the village during his brief stay. Judging by the mask hanging off the corner of the kunoichi's belt, Naruto could assume that she was from some sort of bird clan.

As Naruto got closer, some features of the guide became more familiar. Blue eyes sharpened as he stopped next to Sakura. The kunoichi's face was healing after being badly burnt but the light-streaked hair and angular features definitely held some familiarity.

"Oh, good, Naruto. You're on time for once," Sakura said. "This is Kotori from the Village Hidden by the Animals. She'll be our guide."

Kotori glanced up at the name. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Naruto but much to his relief, she said nothing about his presence. "Naruto, hm?" she asked before glancing away.

Naruto ground his teeth as he waited. He knew why the kunoichi was familiar. Kotori was from the Eagle clan and had been supposed to teach him about trapping. They had trained together a few times before her team had been put in charge investigating the massacres.

The rest of the shinobi heading toward the Chuunin Exams arrived within the next fifteen minutes—even Kakashi. Both Naruto and Sakura had been surprised to see him arrive on time for once.

"This is everyone?" Kotori asked. Her words held a slight slur due to the healing burns around her mouth. Sakura was examining the healing burns with a small frown, wondering what could have caused them. Normally a shinobi's wounds were treated promptly and much more efficiently than these had been. She would have to ask about them later.

"This is everyone," Shikamaru confirmed. "What's the route that we're to take?"

"To Suna and then across to the forest," Kotori said. "It's a bit longer, taking maybe four and a half or five days, but it's the simplest route. The entrance to the forest is the most open when you come from the direction of Suna."

Four or five days. Hopefully within that timespan Naruto would have an opportunity to talk to Kotori alone. He wanted to know what he should expect going into the village. Judging by the burns on Kotori that had made her almost unrecognizable, he had a feeling that it would be bad.

The journey went unusually smooth for the shinobi of Konoha. All too often they experienced complications on their missions and by the end of the second day, there had been none.

The first night, Kotori had slept away from the rest of the Konoha shinobi. On the second night, Sakura refused to let that happen again.

The pink-haired kunoichi sat beside Kotori, examining her burns more closely. "Those look bad," she stated. "It must have been very painful."

Kotori glanced up at Sakura. The kunoichi from the Eagle clan stared at the pink-haired woman before shrugging. "It's better now," she said. "It was at its worst a few months ago."

"Months?" Sakura asked, shocked. "Didn't you receive any medical attention?"

Her question was met with a nod. "As much as was necessary. There were others that needed to be treated more than me at the time."

"Were you on a battlefront?" Sakura asked.

The other kunoichi gave a snort of derisive laughter. "Something of the sort," she admitted. "Our village recently went through something like a civil war. We're recovering but many of our medics were either killed or fled and haven't come back. Those that survived and remained didn't have enough chakra to treat everyone. They would treat people to the point of survival and make sure one was in a stable condition before moving on to the next. The remaining injuries were left to heal on their own."

"It must have been awful," Sakura remarked. She had lived through her village being attacked but she couldn't imagine a civil war within Konoha. She didn't know if she would be able to fight her fellow shinobi.

"Entire clans were massacred by single shinobi," Kotori stated. "My own clan was halved. We were considered lucky." Sakura looked confused by her comments so Kotori explained with a bitter smile. "Clans are everything in our village. The size and strength of a clan determined their position within the village. Now entire legacies are lost because of a few weeks of fighting."

"What about those shinobi or civilians without a clan?" Sakura asked. "What happened to them?"

Kotori's brown eyes creased in faint amusement. "No one has ever been without a clan. Even now, when clans have been cut down to just a single person, they and their legacies have been accepted into other clans until they can grow in size again." Kotori glanced back down at her legs and she began to stretch so she wouldn't be sore for the next day.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to that. The idea of everyone having a clan seemed foreign to her. In Konoha, only the largest shinobi families were considered to be clans.

Instead of replying, she asked, "Do you want me to heal those a bit more?" When Kotori's eyes snapped up to meet hers again, Sakura explained. "I'm a medic, trained by the Hokage herself. I could probably do something."

Kotori paused mid-stretch. After a few moments of thinking, she answered. "Thank you, but no. It barely hurts anymore and I've accepted the scars that will come with these injuries."

When she was younger, Sakura would have protested and tried to convince the other kunoichi into accepting her help. However, she had learned in her training that even when help was possible, some shinobi preferred to have scars. They were reminders, they had told her.

So Sakura simply smiled and nodded. "Okay," she said before settling down to sleep.

It wasn't until the fourth day that Naruto was able to speak to Kotori. The group of ten had stopped for a few minutes to rest and eat and Kotori had wandered away to look for something of her own to eat. After a few minutes, Naruto went to find her, telling the Konoha shinobi that he was going to look for a place to use the bathroom.

"So, you survived," he said as he approached Kotori.

"It's good to see you, Naruto," she whispered. "And that the legacy of the Fox clan lives on."

"It doesn't live on only through me," Naruto stated. "How's the village."

Kotori gave him a weak smile. "Recovering," she admitted. "Most of the physical repairs are finished but our ranks are much smaller now. I don't think it would be obvious to an outsider what we went through, though."

"Who became Soshikage after the fighting stopped?" Naruto asked. "Which clan?"

"Mako from the Deer clan." At Naruto's surprised look, Kotori gave a shrug. "She's strong and doesn't put up with any bickering or fighting. There's a ban on anyone from the Cat clan or Wolf clan becoming Soshikage for the next few years, even if they win the challenge at the Day of Trials."

"Who survived?" Naruto asked. "I'm sure the fighting was just beginning when I left."

"Who do you want to know about?"

The pair spent the next few minutes going over Naruto's list. Kotori hadn't been aware of Hisano's survival and from the lack of information, Naruto suspected that the older woman must have remained outside the village with Kouzan. Yuri had never come back as well. Izo had been found dead, nearly torn to pieces. Daisuke was also dead, along with Miyu, Shiyo, and Shouta. Tobikuma's legs had been injured beyond repair and he would never be a shinobi again. Atsuo, Rikiya, and Kazuki had survived and were on the mend.

"Daiki of the eel clan?" Naruto asked. He was one of the last shinobi that had participated in the challenge that Naruto didn't know the fate of.

Kotori smirked. "He's fine. A bit grumpy but fine. He'll be participating in the Chuunin Exams, with two kunoichi—one from the deer clan and one from the turtle clan."

Naruto's blue eyes widened. "He was genin-ranked?"

Kotori shrugged. "Up until a few weeks ago, we didn't have your type of ranking system. It was only when Mako took the post of Soshikage that we adapted the system. She went through the remaining shinobi one by one and gave them their ranks. It was rather impressive, to be honest."

"What rank did she give you?" Naruto asked.

"Jounin," Kotori announced proudly. "That's why I was allowed to guide you here without a team."

Naruto smiled at her enthusiasm before hesitating. There was one more person on his list. Well, two technically.

"Whatever happened to Akahana and Hotaru?" he asked. Kotori's eyes darkened.

"Still alive," she said. "Akahana is the one responsible for this." She gestured at the burns on her face. "She got promoted to jounin as well, along with Atsuo, Rikiya, and Kazuki."

"Good for them," Naruto murmured.

"Yes, it's allowed for plenty of solo missions," Kotori said. "But Akahana and Hotaru refuse to work on a team anymore. They've lost their trust in everyone, it seems."

"So what do they do instead?" Naruto inquired.

"She's been put in charge of a genin team," Kotori informed him. "It's been quite amusing, honestly."

"I'm sure it is," Naruto said quietly. He was relieved to hear that Akahana was still alive, more relieved than he should have been. He couldn't wait to see her with her genin team and see how that dynamic worked. The blonde shinobi was sure that her team was probably terrified of Hotaru.

Kotori glanced behind her.

"We should get back," she announced. "Before the others become more suspicious than they already are. I assume that they don't know anything about our village?"

Naruto nodded. "And I hope to keep it that way. I won't give away your village's secrets."

"It's a nice sentiment," Kotori replied. "But that may not be possible."


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto stared down at the village from the window of the inn they were staying at. His group wasn't very far from the Village Hidden by the Animals but Kotori was delaying their entrance. None of the others were aware of how close they were but Naruto knew the truth. When they checked into the inn, Naruto had given Kotori a questioning look.

The kunoichi had merely shrugged at the time before pulling open her kunai pouch and revealing a set of scrolls to Naruto. It had seemed like a simple slip but Naruto had understood the message she was trying to give him.

It would be dark by the time they entered the forest and it wouldn't be safe to enter the forest at night. There were too many traps, to either protect the village from outsiders or remnants of the battlegrounds a few months ago. With so many shinobi not used to the terrain, it would make sense that traveling was restricted to the daytime.

As Naruto stared out the window, a small group of children ran in front of the inn, playing a game that Naruto could recognize as Shinobi Tag. He blinked in surprise. Some of those children looked familiar.

"Shinobi children, in a civilian village?" Shikamaru questioned, recognizing the game they were playing as well. Kotori glanced down at the group of children before looking away.

"Orphans, I imagine," she said. "Probably staying with civilian relatives until they're old enough to be properly trained."

"Some of them look old enough to be properly trained," Shikamaru stated flatly. Kotori shrugged.

"Then their families must not have wanted them to become shinobi and face such a dangerous lifestyle," she replied. "It's not my place to question what their families will for them." By her tone, the kunoichi made it clear that it wasn't Shikamaru's place to question it either.

Shikamaru sighed and didn't bother to respond. He knew that there was something odd going on within the village but he hadn't cared enough to find out what it was. He had deduced that it wasn't serious enough to cause harm to the ones he was responsible for and therefore it was no longer any of his concern. More information could be gleaned once he was actually inside the village.

"How long will it be until we reach the village, Kotori?" Sakura asked.

"Two hours," Kotori replied. Kakashi frowned.

"So close?" he asked. "We could have been there tonight."

"Yes, we could have," Kotori remarked dryly, not offering any reasons about why she had decided that the group would spend the night in a civilian village instead. Naruto held back a smirk. Kotori's attitude was typical of the shinobi that inhabited the Village Hidden by the Animals and it was the type of attitude that would throw off shinobi from other villages, particularly those that were open to trading like Konoha and Suna.

While the group of shinobi was focused on settling in from the night, Naruto decided that it would be best to go for a walk. He wanted a closer look at those children to see if he did in fact recognize any of them. If there were children who had escaped from the village in that first day, maybe there was a chance that Yuri would be around.

By the time Naruto arrived at the front entrance of the inn, the group of children had run off but that didn't deter the blonde. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he began to stroll down the main street. He doubted he would be questioned for simply going on a walk.

Since it was nearly nightfall, there weren't many people on the streets. Most were in their homes, preparing dinner or relaxing after a day's work. It was a peaceful quiet that Naruto hadn't really experienced since he had returned to Konoha.

A few blocks away, Naruto came across a small grocery store and decided to go inside. Everyone needed food and in a town this size, most stores were on the small side. The person in charge of the grocery store would probably be one of the few citizens that knew everyone in town and their business.

"Afternoon," he called when he entered, a smile on his face. The woman running the store gave him a curious look but made no move to kick him out, merely nodding in acknowledgement. It was an odd sensation for Naruto, who was still used to the despise-filled looks of some of the civilians of Konoha.

After browsing the store, Naruto picked up a few containers of instant ramen. It wasn't anything like he could get at Ichiraku's but it was better than nothing. The woman at the counter raised an eyebrow at his selection but didn't comment.

"Would you be able to tell me if a friend of mine lives around here?" Naruto asked as the clerk rang up his items. "I got turned around on the journey here and can't remember which village she's staying in."

"Maybe," came the reply.

"Her name's Yuri," Naruto said. "Dark-haired, a bit quiet but kind, is fond of cats…"

The woman glanced up at him sharply at his last bit of description.

"She a kunoichi?" she asked, voice becoming just as sharp as her look. Naruto nodded, filling his chest rise with hope.

"None of that type around here," the woman stated. "At least none that stay."

"Any retired?" Naruto inquired. There was always the possibility that Yuri had given up the shinobi lifestyle. He received a shake of a head.

"They don't stay around here, especially after what's happened recently. They either stay in their village or retire further out, where they can't be affected by any of the politics."

Naruto's hopes sank. "How far?" he asked.

"Usually into the next country or even further," the woman said. "If your friend isn't in the village, then I'm sorry, but she's long gone. When did she leave?"

"A few months ago," Naruto said. The woman gave him a sad smile.

"She's definitely gone then. The refuges didn't stick around for long."

"She had a bunch of children with her," Naruto said. "Any idea of what happened to the children that left?"

The woman shrugged. "Most with surviving clans and families were found and brought back to the village a few weeks ago. Those that didn't have anyone…I think most were taken in by those that had the abilities to care for extra mouths."

"Any that weren't taken in?" Naruto asked. The woman shook her head and handed him his bag of ramen.

"None in this village," she replied. Naruto sighed but thanked the woman, before leaving. As he continued his walk, he checked in with a few other vendors that were still open but he received the same information.

"It's useless," a voice called from behind him as Naruto left the third vendor. "Don't you think we've done all of this already. If they don't have to be found, they won't. That's how it's been for generations."

Naruto glanced back to see Kotori strolling up to him.

"I just wanted to be sure," he explained. "She was my first friend."

Kotori frowned. There were plenty of things she wanted to tell the fox shinobi about Yuri but she doubted that her comments would be well received.

"I know," she finally settled for. "Now let's go back to the inn. Your presence has already been missed."

"And they sent you to look for me?" Naruto questioned. Kotori smirked.

"Not willingly," she admitted. "But I know the village best and I convinced them that foreign shinobi asking questions isn't typically well-received by the villagers. Your allies also arrived, which distracted them."

Naruto's blue eyes narrowed in confusion. "Allies?"

"From Suna," was the response. "A genin team led by a cranky blonde with a large fan."

The blonde shinobi grinned at the description of Temari. The Konoha delegation had doubted that Gaara would attend the Chuunin exams personally but had predicted that one of his siblings would be sent instead. It seemed that they were correct.

When Naruto and Kotori returned to the inn, it was noted by both Kakashi and Shikamaru. It hadn't escaped either jounin's notice that this was the second time that the pair had been alone for some time on the trip. Neither was convinced that Naruto and Kotori were plotting something together—Naruto wasn't  _that_  great of an actor—but it was clear that they knew each other from somewhere else. Why else would there be that sense of familiarity between the two?

Kakashi's singular eye met Shikamaru's brown ones and nodded. He would speak to Naruto once they reached the village and try to find out what was going on. They were in an unfamiliar area and they needed all the information they could get. Holding back information could put everyone on the team at risk.

_A few days earlier_

Sasuke looked around the Uchiha weapons compound, taking note of its currently silent guardians. He frowned before turning to the cat in charge.

"There's less of you," he stated.

"Not all of us were needed to guard a place that so few know about," was the reply. "Some were summoned to attend to more interesting matters."

Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed at the second part of the comment. "Summoned? I thought only Uchiha held the contract for summoning cats."

He received a purr of amusement.

"A common misconception, but no. There are a few others that hold the contract as well."

"How many is a few?" Sasuke demanded, beginning to wonder if secret Uchiha techniques had been passed on to these other contract holders.

"Just another clan."

Sasuke glared down at the cat, hands clenching as he tried to restrain his anger at the news. "Another  _clan_?" he spat. "An entire clan?"

The cat's tail flicked. "Are you worried? You shouldn't be."

Sasuke ignored the comment. He couldn't risk anyone else finding out about the secrets of the Uchiha or their techniques, especially the sharingan. He had to find this clan to steal and destroy their summoning scroll, if they had a copy of one. No one besides the Uchiha deserved to know the techniques that the Uchiha had created. No one besides the Uchiha deserved to hold power over their guardians, the cats.

"Where is this clan?" he asked, voice harsh. The cat's tail twitched as it debated about responding but before Sasuke could repeat himself, he received an answer.

"The Village Hidden by the Animals," the cat informed him. "A few months ago, a few were summoned away to help with some fighting. After the fighting ended, they stayed to help the village be rebuilt."

Sasuke held back a growl of frustration. He couldn't call them back because they weren't in the world in which they originally came from. If they had returned already, he could have gotten directions or be led to the village but now he had to find it on his own.

The Village Hidden by the Animals. It wasn't familiar to him but he felt like he had heard about it recently.

The Uchiha stormed away, making plans as he did so. The cat he had been talking to watched him go, before turning to one of the younger cats that approached.

"He doesn't look very happy," the younger cat stated, tail flicking. "He's probably going to do something rash, like steal the summoning scroll now."

"I know," its elder replied, watching the young shinobi leave the hidden compound. "But he's been through so much with his family and clan and I couldn't tell him the truth."

"So you didn't tell him that the scroll the other clan holds is the original and that the Uchiha elders only managed to steal a copy? Why?"

The elder cat purred as the question was asked. "Because if he goes after the scroll, he'll destroy it. If he destroys the original scroll, the copy won't work anymore and we'll finally be free."


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura hissed as a particularly thorny branch scraped across her skin, leaving a bloody scratch. The pain distracted her for a brief second and she found herself slipping on a damp piece of moss on her next step. It was only thanks to Ebisu and Sai that she didn't fall down to the ground.

The pink-haired kunoichi was in the middle of the group currently. Shikamaru, Temari, and Kakashi were near the back, keeping pace with the genin and making sure that they were able to keep moving in the forest. This was difficult terrain, even for experienced jounin. Sakura couldn't imagine how difficult this part of the journey was for the Suna shinobi. At least she had an advantage with having grown up in a forested village.

At the head of the group were Kotori, the Suna shinobi's guide Tomohiro, and surprisingly, Naruto. Sakura had expected that her blonde teammate would have been struggling toward the back but, like always, he was proving her wrong.

When Sakura nearly twisted her ankle on a misstep, she hissed and focused her attention on the three leading the group. How did they do it? They made it look so easy.

Naruto could hear his teammates struggling behind him but he forced himself to keep looking ahead. If he turned back, there was a chance that one of them would see the red gleam to his eyes.

As soon as they had entered the forest and positions had been set, Naruto had allowed the Kyuubi to come forward and help him on this journey. He knew that without the Kyuubi's help that he would have been struggling as much as when he first arrived at the village.

Beside him, Naruto could smell Kotori and Tomohiro. On occasion, one of them would drop back to make sure that the others were keeping up but they would always rejoin at the front after a few minutes.

The large group of shinobi and kunoichi traveled in silence, no one having the breath to waste on chatter.

Naruto was just beginning to recognize landmarks when Kotori and Tomohiro slid to a stop.

"Halt!" Tomohiro called and grabbed Naruto's shoulder as the blonde nearly tumbled past him.

"What's wrong?" Sakura called as she tried to catch her breath but no response was given. Instead, both Kotori and Tomohiro held up hands to signal that they needed silence.

Naruto used the Kyuubi's senses to try and listen for the danger that he could instinctively feel. There wasn't something right up ahead but he couldn't pinpoint what. It was too still, too silent. Was the area up ahead trapped?

Tomohiro reached into his weapons pouch and withdrew a small ball-shaped object, which he tossed a few meters ahead of where they had stopped. He blinked when there was a small explosion, but didn't look very surprised.

"It's trapped," he stated, almost sounding resigned. Kotori frowned and her eyes narrowed.

"It's not anything from our village," she murmured. "It's no pattern that I've seen before." Her comments reminded Naruto that Kotori had been the trapper for her team and that she would have the most knowledge about this subject.

"What's the hold up?" Temari had pushed her way to the front to get some answers. Hastily, Naruto suppressed the Kyuubi and his red-tinted vision returned to normal.

"We can't proceed unless we want to be blown up," Tomohiro explained.

"Then let's go around," Temari suggested. Naruto could see Kotori roll her eyes at the suggestion.

"We don't know how far along it extends," she said. "And if we go too far into either direction, the forest will become even more difficult and your genin won't be able to get through."

Temari frowned at the hidden jab about her team's capabilities. "Then dismantle the traps," she stated.

Kotori crossed her arms. "It's not that easy," she replied. "These aren't from our village. If they were, I'd have already had them dismantled. But since they aren't, I'm not approaching anything without more information."

"Not from your village?" Kakashi questioned. "Then who would've set them up?"

It was a question that no one had the answer to.

After a minute of doing nothing, Kotori stepped away from the front and pulled out a scroll. Naruto was able to recognize it as a clan summoning scroll, similar to the one he had packed away in his bag. However, before she could unroll it and summon anything, she jerked back. Less than a second later, there was a dull thunk as a kunai pierced a tree trunk, just centimeters away from where Kotori's face had been.

The reactions of the group were instantaneous. Everyone immediately went for a kunai, shuriken, or their preferred weapon.

"Who's there?" Kotori called warily, eyes scanning the dense forest. Naruto's eyes narrowed when he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye and he turned his head to see a monkey running off. Tomohiro met his glance and nodded. He had sent a message off with the monkey.

After a heartbeat or two, Naruto's head whipped in the opposite direction. He hadn't heard or seen anything but he had a feeling that someone that there was someone only a few feet away.

Another second or two passed before Naruto's ears caught the sound of a wire snapping. He didn't have time to consider what such a sound meant because before his mind could even process it, he was confronted by dozens of traps exploding only a few feet away from him.

The force of the multiple explosions tossed Naruto backward into a tree branch. He raised his hands to cover his face, hoping that nothing sharp would pierce his body. There was a loud roar and Naruto could feel the area around him quickly increase in temperature for a few seconds before there was complete silence.

Once he was sure that there were no more explosions, Naruto dropped his hands and looked around.

Kotori was on the ground, hands covering the burn scars on her face. Judging by the expression on her face, Naruto guessed that the heat from the explosion had brought back memories that she would rather not relive.

Temari's fan had shielded Tomohiro and herself, along with the Suna genin, from any shrapnel but the fan bore some singe marks on its edges. Kakashi and Sai had been thrown back like Naruto and they were quickly recovering. Neither had suffered any injuries that would need immediate medical treatment.

Sakura, Shikamaru, and Ebisu were standing around a small form while Konohamaru and Moegi stood off to the side, looking on worriedly. At the sight of Sakura using chakra, Naruto stumbled over.

"What happened?" he asked, not taking notice of the others that followed him. Udon was the form that the three older shinobi were standing around but thankfully he was still conscious. Sakura didn't respond until the chakra around her hands faded and she sat back.

"It's a broken leg," she announced. Udon groaned. Any shinobi knew that broken bones would take them out of action for a few weeks, if not longer.

"Then it's been a wasted journey for you," Kotori murmured. "I'm sorry but only teams of three genin are allowed to participate in the Chuunin Exams and you're down to two. You won't be allowed to enter."

"Sure we will," Shikamaru stated. "Our Hokage predicted that something troublesome might happen, so she sent along a fourth genin. We still have enough to make a three person team."

Kotori raised an eyebrow. "Who's your substitute?"

With a small grin, Shikamaru gestured to Naruto. The blonde shinobi blinked in shock before a wide grin overcame his face. He was going to participate in the Chuunin Exams.

Temari rolled her eyes at the stupid grin on Naruto's face and turned to face her team. She would have to give them updated information then. Ebisu sputtered as tow of the genin under his command let out loud cheers, glad to know that they still had a chance at becoming chuunin.

Kotori stared at Naruto in confusion. "You're a genin?" she asked. Naruto nodded and the confusion in her eyes was slowly replaced with something similar to astonishment. She would have never guessed, especially not with the way he had kept up with Akahana and Izo, who had been jounin level shinobi. Even Yuri had been on the edge between chuunin and jounin.

After getting Udon ready to move and making sure that there were no more traps to be set off, the large group continued. They were only a mile or two outside the village, so it took them less than thirty minutes to arrive.

Naruto took a deep breath and inhaled the familiar scents of the village. It seemed that most of the central village had been rebuilt and Naruto had to hold back a smile when he recognized a few of the shops that had made it through the brief civil war.

His happiness quickly faded as he remembered his reasons for leaving. There were still marks of battles in the alleyways and on some of the shops that used to belong to clans that were now gone.

Kotori caught Temari and Shikamaru looking around, silently judging the village. She frowned but waited for their appraisal.

"It's bigger than I expected," Temari said. "Not as big as Suna or Konoha, but it's still pretty big."

Kotori gave her a bitter smile. "And it used to be bigger," she remarked before gesturing for another shinobi pair to come over. "The Suna and Konoha delegations," she announced. "Arrangements should have been made already."

The two shinobi nodded and smiled at the foreign group. "You're one of the last to arrive. Only the Village Hidden by the Rocks has yet to arrive."

Temari gave them a forced smile. "Glad we're not last then."

As the group of thirteen were led away, a feline form darted down an empty alley. The large cat sprinted across the village at record speed, drawing looks of concern. It found its target in a training ground next to the cat clan compound.

"Akahana!" the cat yowled, causing the kunoichi to look up. Akahana stared at the panting cat.

"What is it, Hotaru?" she asked, voice dull. "What's gotten you all excited."

Hotaru's tail flicked wildly and she leapt for the kunoichi, intent on dragging her toward the village. Akahana stepped out of her path. "What is it?" she asked again.

"It's Naruto!" Hotaru announced. "He's back in the village!"


	6. Chapter 6

Upon hearing those words, Akahana took off in the direction Hotaru had come from. The hellcat growled before dashing off after the kunoichi. If Akahana was going to do something stupid, Hotaru would at least ensure that the kunoichi was in the right place and found the right person.

Within minutes, Akahana was across the street from where the genin teams were being registered. She was about to step out onto the street when she felt herself being held back by a foreign hand.

Less than a second after being grabbed, a kunai was in her hand and Akahana was about to form the hand signal for Hotaru to attack.

"It's me!" a voice hissed as Akahana faced her opponent. The kunoichi blinked as she recognized Atsuo but she made a distinct action about not putting her kunai away. Atsuo growled at the silent insult.

"I saw him and Kotori enter the village," Atsuo said quietly. "They're acting like they don't know each other. He's acting like he's never been here before. He's going to pretend that he doesn't know you."

"So?" Akahana demanded. "Don't pretend that you care about my feelings now, after the past few years." An unrecognizable emotion flickered in Atsuo's eyes.

"Don't do that to yourself," he said. "I know you have self-destructive tendencies, but keep them physical. Don't toy with your mind or emotions in such a manner."

Akahana snarled at Atsuo. "In case you've forgotten, I'm used to people pretending I don't exist. It would hardly wreak havoc on my emotions."

Atsuo flinched visibly at the harshness in her tone.

"He's being listed as a genin," the shinobi informed Akahana. "Some of the other villages might ask questions if they see a jounin and a genin from separate villages talking together. Don't give them any reason to be suspicious or paranoid."

"Don't tell me what to do," Akahana snapped as she broke away from Atsuo. "I'm the same rank as you. You can't order me around like a subordinate."

The shinobi of the wolf clan watched Akahana stalk away. The kunoichi stopped in the middle of the street, looking straight ahead. Atsuo could see the wheels turning in her mind and sighed when he saw her gesture for Hotaru to follow her. He had tried but nowadays it was nearly impossible to manage the kunoichi. She was a loose cannon that only Izo could control in the past. Now Izo was gone and Akahana was without a team.

Everyone was on guard to make sure she didn't become like Saya but at the same time, they were trying to think of ways they would protect the village if she went down Saya's path. Alone, Akahana was a decent threat but then one had to consider Hotaru. The hellcat was so loyal to Akahana that she would do whatever the kunoichi asked. Hotaru couldn't be relied on to be the moral voice for the cat clan kunoichi and together, the pair had the ability to do significant damage.

Kakashi frowned when he stepped outside the registration building and came face to face with a kunoichi that looked to be only a few years older than his team. It was obvious that she was a kunoichi—an experienced one at that—by the way she held herself. Kakashi's frown deepened when he spotted the larger feline at her side. Something about her seemed off, yet familiar.

A familiarity that he normally only associated with Naruto and sometimes Gaara.

"Akahana, were you coming to register your genin team?" Kotori asked as she exited the building, shortly before Shikamaru and the rest of the Konoha shinobi, including Naruto.

"No, that's already done. I was just…evaluating the competition."

Standing beside Naruto, it didn't escape Shikamaru's notice that the blonde stiffened when the kunoichi spoke or that her voice almost turned to a purr when her eyes landed and lingered on Naruto.

So the pair had a past. However, Shikamaru wasn't going to leap to conclusions about the type of past they shared. The most obvious conclusion could easily be wrong.

Akahana stepped aside to let the Konoha shinobi pass, keeping Naruto in the corner of her eye at all times.

"A jounin that leads one of your village's genin teams?" Kakashi asked idly once Akahana was out of hearing range. Kotori nodded.

"Newly promoted. This team is her first." Technically it was—using this structure of command.

"And the cat beside her—a summons or a nin-cat?"

"Neither," Kotori answered. From the tone of her voice, it was obvious that she wouldn't be offering any further explanations.

A few hours later, the Konoha shinobi were settled in their quarters that they would call home for the next month or so. The majority of the group was tired and ready to rest after traveling except for one.

Naruto.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't relax. He doubted that he would ever fully relax while being in this village. Not after what happened.

Every time he closed his blue eyes, images would appear. Faces of every shinobi he had met, bloodied and with eyes that no longer saw anything. A group of frightened children being spirited away, orphaned and no idea if they would even make it through the night. A pair of bloodied hands and a relieved face upon seeing a comrade alive. A torn headband, lying abandoned among the forest floor, soon to be hidden by leaves and plants.

When the morning dawned, Kakashi woke to see Naruto standing near the window, staring ahead blankly.

"Did you sleep at all?"

Naruto visibly started at the sound of Kakashi's voice. He blinked a few times and the images in his mind cleared.

"No," the younger shinobi answered honestly.

"What were you thinking about?"

Naruto glanced back and saw that not only was Kakashi awake, but so were Shikamaru and Sai. Their eyes on him made Naruto hesitate before he replied.

"About the last Chuunin exams," he lied. "Things are so different now."

"Yes, it will be interesting to see what the first two exams are," Kakashi remarked, meeting Shikamaru's eyes and giving a barely noticeable nod. They were both aware that Naruto was lying. The blonde may have grown in some ways over the past few years but he was still a poor liar by shinobi standards.

Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Won't they be the same as the previous exams?" he asked. Shikamaru sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. Typical Naruto.

"Of course not," he drawled. "Not every village has the same topography so the physical exams are always different, depending on what resources the village has. Each village also values different traits in their shinobi, so they'll try and give their shinobi an advantage by providing exams that they know their own shinobi will excel in. Only the third exam remains the same, because of the spectators that come to watch."

"It'll be interesting to see what this village values in their shinobi," Sai added. Kakashi nodded while Naruto turned back around to continue staring out the window. He already knew what this village valued in their shinobi—the clan and a ruthlessness to kill anyone that wasn't a part of the clan, even if they were a fellow shinobi.

After breakfast, Naruto broke away from the rest of his companions to explore the inn they were staying in. Until the Chuunin exams started or the training areas were located, Shikamaru had decided that the Konoha shinobi should remain in the building so that they didn't accidentally offend anyone or get targeted by genin looking to take out the competition before the exams had even started.

When Naruto got to the roof, he had company. A masked kunoichi stood in the middle of the roof, where there was less chance of being seen by anyone on the street.

"Where's Hotaru?" he asked the kunoichi.

"Supervising the training of my genin team," Akahana replied. "You came back."

"I didn't have a choice."

The pair were silent for a moment.

"I saw some of the children we saved in a civilian village," Naruto told Akahana. He hated that she was wearing a mask because it hid her emotions from him. He couldn't tell if this information surprised her or not. "I was happy to see that at least a few made it out, after everything we did for them."

"None of the shinobi that took children ever came back," Akahana replied. "A few were killed on their way back in but the majority didn't even try."

"Including Yuri," Naruto realized. Akahana nodded.

"The village labeled them dead. Everyone would rather them dead than be labeled missing nin and disowned from the clans."

"Let me guess," Naruto said bitterly. "Since everyone considered Yuri dead, you never bothered to go and look for her."

"I never had the time!" Naruto blinked at the forcefulness behind the words. "I fought to stay alive up until the minute things were under control. Then me, along with all of the other wolf clan and cat clan shinobi were arrested and contained until Mako was chosen as Soshikage. A month after that, I was finally released and promoted to jounin as part of the village restructuring. I was given missions day after day and when they realized I wasn't going to take any team missions or consider being put on a new team, they assigned me a genin team to keep me occupied and under control."

Akahana took a deep breath before continuing. "Ever since I was released, I've been watched by everyone around me. The only time I get to myself now is when I sleep and whenever I actually  _can_  sleep, I see the gates of hell like I have ever since I could remember. So no, I never looked for her because I never had time and because Yuri doesn't deserve to go through that. She's better off outside of this village."

"Has the village changed at all?" Naruto asked. Akahana laughed bitterly.

"Many think that the fighting helped get rid of some of the bad blood between the clans. Every clan suffered and we've united in trying to get through the tragedies but..."

"But not all of the tensions are gone and many people blame the wolf and cat clans for the entire situation." Akahana and Naruto turned to face the new speaker. The third shinobi was wearing a wolf mask and out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Akahana's hands clench into fists.

"This is a private conversation," she hissed.

"I wasn't listening to the entire thing," the other shinobi replied. "I've just been sent to fetch you."

"What for?"

"The Soshikage wants to talk to all of the jounins in charge of genin teams. You probably shouldn't keep her waiting."

Akahana gave a curt nod and bounded away. Naruto stared at the wolf clan shinobi who remained after a few seconds.

"Which one are you?" he asked.

"Atsuo," came the reply. "I'll make sure she gets some time off once the Chuunin exams start. It'll probably prove beneficial. She needs time to grieve and relax, to wrap her mind around what's happened. Maybe once she as time to do that, she'll realize that the world isn't against her."

"Maybe," Naruto stated but he had met plenty of shinobi that would prove otherwise.

Atsuo hesitated. "I told her not to talk to you, in order to not raise suspicions, but I'm glad you're back. Unlike me, she actually likes you somewhat. Maybe you can get through to her."

After Atsuo left, Naruto stood on the roof for a few minutes, thinking about the conversation he had just had. When he turned around, Naruto spotted Shikamaru, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sai near the roof entrance.

"And how much did you hear?" he asked in an irritated manner. It seemed like the time for pretending was up.

"I'm glad you're back?" Kakashi asked, raising his visible eyebrow. Naruto sighed.

"When I was training with Jiraiya, we went through the forest and got attacked. Some shinobi from the village found me while Jiraiya was looking for something and brought me back to the village for medical attention. I ended up staying for a while, until fighting broke out. I got to know a few of the shinobi."

"Why did you stay for so long?" Sakura asked. "Why wouldn't you go back to training with Jiraiya?"

"They had information on the Kyuubi," Naruto stated bluntly. It wasn't the ultimate reason he had stayed but he couldn't reveal that reason without bringing his loyalties into doubt. Naruto knew he would always be loyal to Konoha but the others wouldn't automatically assume that.

Taking advantage of throwing his teammates off balance, Naruto went down to their rooms in the inn. He would take advantage of his last few minutes of silence before being bombarded with questions for the rest of the day.

 


	7. Chapter 7

"Is this everyone? All of the teams are present?"

Upon seeing the nods, the proctor smirked.

"Welcome to the Chuunin exams. This is the first of three exams. Many of you won't go on to the next exam. Of those of you that manage to get to the second exam, only a fraction of you will reach the third exam. Even if you make it through all three exams alive, there's no guarantee that you'll become a chuunin. So really, you should just give up now. It would be much easier and safer for everyone involved. If you want to leave now, feel free to do so. After sixty seconds has passed, everyone that remains will not be allowed to back out of the exams until they are dead or disqualified."

The next minute was silent but no teams got up to leave. The proctor's smirk widened. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the predatory feel behind the smirk, wondering what clan the proctor was from.

"Let's begin," the proctor announced. "Once I'm done with the explanations, every team will be led to a room and locked inside. If you leave the room at any time within the three hours you'll be there, your team will be disqualified. While you're locked inside, your task will be very simple—choose who your weakest teammate is. Once you've made your decision, the one chosen will not be continuing on to the second exam while the other two will be free to move on."

Naruto blinked in faint surprise. Would it really be that easy? Even he could see that this was basically another version of the test he, Sakura, and Sasuke went through when they first Kakashi.

"You can make your decision at any time within the three hours and let the proctors know. Once the proctors know your decision, the first exam will be over."

When the proctor finished speaking, he nodded to the other proctor shinobi standing around the edges of the room. One by one, each shinobi called the name of a genin team.

"Team Ebisu," an extremely large kunoichi called. Naruto could sense Moegi and Konohamaru gaping at her height and bulk. Instead of gaping, Naruto spotted the mask hanging off of her utility belt. Bear clan. Surprise, surprise.

"Three hours," the kunoichi stated as she showed them the room. Once all three genin were inside, Naruto could hear the lock flip on the door. If a shinobi was really desperate, the lock and the door itself wouldn't prevent them from getting out. The door could be broken with one well-placed kick. The blonde shinobi didn't like being locked in a room but that little detail made him a bit more comfortable.

"Shinobi are meant to operate in three-person teams, usually with a fourth person as leader. Why would they tell us to choose one of our team to not go on? How are we even supposed to choose? Everyone has a strength," Moegi stated, looking around.

"We're not going to choose," Naruto said. Konohamaru and Moegi looked at him in surprise.

"But then we'll be disqualified!" Konohamaru protested. "We won't get the chance to become chuunin!"

"Trust me," Naruto said quietly. "I've been through similar tests and I've been to this village. I know what they're expecting. We're not going to choose and we're not going to turn on each other. You know why?"

Naruto took a deep breath as Moegi and Konohamaru looked at him expectantly.

"Because we're a clan and clanmates won't turn on each other."

Then the room went dark.

"What's happening?" Konohamaru asked, his voice rising several octaves. "Who turned off the lights?"

"The proctors did," Naruto said in a dull voice. "They're going to try and force us by making a choice."

"But what does turning off the lights accomplish?" Konohamaru demanded.

"Sensory depravation," Moegi explained. "They're expecting after a few minutes of searching and being unable to find the light switch to turn them back on, we'll panic."

"But we're shinobi," Konohamaru said. "The dark doesn't scare us."

"An unfamiliar location, locked inside a small room, that's suddenly turned dark," Moegi said. "It would put any shinobi on edge, no matter how experienced or inexperienced they are."

"Other things are going to happen," Naruto said. "To overwhelm us and force us to make a choice just to make it stop."

"And we're just supposed to sit here and take it? Let them torture us for three hours? What's the point of this exam then? What are we trying to prove to them or learn?"

"That the team comes first," Naruto whispered. "The team and the clan above everything else."

Before any further questions could be asked, sirens started blaring in the room. Naruto jumped and clutched his ears as the noise reached the point of being too loud. After a few seconds he realized he could hear words being shouted behind the sound of the siren.

"Choose," he heard. "Choose."

The Kyuubi growled uncomfortably, not liking being trapped in the room. It was fine when he hadn't been able to see but now the noise made him unable to hear. What would be next? The sense of smell?

* * *

Naruto trembled as he stood against the wall. It had been an hour and things hadn't changed. Moegi and Konohamaru were pacing around the room, according to his sense of smell. Every few minutes the sirens would cut out, leaving behind a demand that they make a choice. It was wearing on everyone's nerves and Naruto knew that someone would snap soon.

However, he knew that it wasn't going to be him. Unlike Konohamaru and Moegi, he was able to retreat to Kyuubi's cage when things became too overwhelming. It provided him some relief and a way to separate himself from the current events.

"—just make a choice!" he heard and snapped to attention. The sirens had cut out and Moegi was speaking. "It's the fastest way to make it stop!"

"It's also the fastest way to fail, according to Naruto," Konohamaru protested. "We should listen to him. He has the most experience."

"But I can't take it anymore! There's too many people in this room."

"Moegi, take a deep breath," Konohamaru said. "It'll be okay. A few more hours and we'll be moving on."

"I can't," Moegi whispered. "Not with the gas that they're pushing in now."

"Gas?" Naruto and Konohamaru asked in unison. Moegi didn't reply, instead giving them some time to listen. After a few seconds, Naruto could hear the sound of something hissing through the vent systems. The Kyuubi inside him began to panic and it took all of Naruto's control to keep the fox under, to not have Kyuubi take control.

"Let us out!" Konohamaru screeched, banging on the door. "Let us out!"

Naruto took a few steps and wrapped his arm around Konohamaru's head, covering the younger shinobi's mouth.

"Have you made your choice?" a voice came from the other side of the door.

"We're not choosing anyone," Naruto replied. "No one is the weakest member of this team. We all have our strengths."

"You must choose before you leave this room," the voice replied and the sirens started up again. Naruto sighed and released Konohamaru, sensing the boy was yelling at him but was unable to hear the words.

The blonde took a deep breath and shivered. It was colder in the room now.

Not gas hissing into the room then. Cold air. A simulation to make them think they were being gassed with something and the room was being made colder to put them more on edge.

"It's interesting," Konohamaru stated once the sirens cut out again. "I've never heard of shinobi using gas before."

"It's not gas," Naruto replied. "They just want us to think that it is."

"What's next?" Moegi questioned, voice quivering. "What could they possibly do in the few hours they have left?"

* * *

A lot, it turned out. The proctors could do a lot to them to try and force them to make a choice. Naruto wished there was some way to tell the time. He had lost track roughly about halfway through, when they started using genjustsu.

He almost preferred the darkness and the sirens. It was better than imagining masked shinobi holding kunai to Konohamaru and Moegi's throats, demanding him to choose. When he didn't, they chose for him, slicing the throat of one. When Naruto would try to lunge forward to get revenge, the scene would begin to repeat itself.

How long had they been locked in this room? It had to be getting close to the three hour mark. When were they going to turn the lights back on?

As soon as the thought crossed Naruto's mind, he heard the lock flip. He turned to face the door, shielding his eyes as light flooded into the room.

"It's time to make your final decision." A masked shinobi stepped into the doorway. "Who will you be leaving behind?"

Naruto stepped forward. "The team before the mission," he said.

"No one's getting left behind," Konohamaru stated.

"Because no one's the weakest," Moegi finished. "We all have strengths in our own areas."

The masked shinobi nodded and their hand went to the side of the doorway. The light flicked back on and they drew their hand away.

"Congratulations," he said. "Now follow me. It's time for the second exam."

Naruto grinned, an action that was quickly copied by Moegi and Konohamaru.

* * *

"I hear your genin team passed the first exam."

Akahana turned to face the speaker.

"You've been following me around a lot lately," she pointed out. "Why?"

"Congratulations," Atsuo continued. "Though it's not really a surprise. We all knew what tests to expect and I assume you passed that information on."

"The village needs to look strong," Akahana stated dully. "I assume you're here for a reason?"

Atsuo nodded and held up a piece of paper. "Two days off, as soon as the second exam starts. You're free to leave the village and go to the civilian villages, if you wish. There are some that feel that if you get away for a day or so, you'll come back with a clearer mind."

"And they're positive that I'll come back," Akahana said. Atsuo stared at her for a minute.

"Would it ever cross your mind to not come back?" he asked.

"No," Akahana answered coolly. She glanced to the side, where Hotaru was watching her from a nearby tree. "Let's go," she called.

"Akahana," Atsuo called when she started to leave. "Aka-ko!" Akahana started at the long forgotten nickname.

"What?" she demanded in a hostile tone, whirling around. "And how dare you use that name! You don't have permission anymore!"

"I hope you can find her," Atsuo said. "And if you can, I would be much obliged if you could get some leads on Fukuyo."

Green eyes met hazel eyes, silently judging and weighing the options.

"We'll see."


	8. Chapter 8

Temari paced, keeping her attention on the clock that was ticking away on the wall. Shikamaru watched her, not quite sure what to say. After months of working with Temari, he knew when the kunoichi was bound to lash out at others.

"Do the jounins ever know the results?" Sakura asked. "Or do they just find out if a team fails?"

"Usually the jounins from the home village can find out. For the team leaders from other villages, it depends on their connections. You have to know the right people to find out the results from each exam," Kakashi explained.

"The right people?"

Kakashi nodded. "In this case, the proctors or the ones running the betting pool."

"There's a betting pool?" Sakura asked with a sigh. She shouldn't be surprised, not after being taught by Tsunade, but she could hope.

"It's a good way for the villages to get some extra money other than what comes from missions," Sai explained.

"We'll get the results," Shikamaru said. "Kakashi and I put bets in so someone will come and tell us."

"When?" Sakura questioned. "When did you have time to find out who was running the betting pool?"

"Bathroom break an hour ago," Temari interrupted. "That's when I put mine down and saw them doing the same. It was set up where the teams were registered when we first entered the village."

"We should be finding out any minute," Kakashi said, glancing at the clock. "The first exam ended fifteen minutes ago."

Sakura nearly asked if the two shinobi were confident that the Konoha team was going to pass but she bit her tongue. It didn't feel right to ask that question in front of Temari, who was worrying about her own team.

"Long first exam," Temari muttered, "What sort of written test takes three hours?"

"Why are you assuming that it's a written test?" Shikamaru asked. Temari gave him an irritated look.

"The first exam is nearly always written," she stated, "even if answering the questions isn't the focus. They were also taken to office rooms."

"Nearly always isn't always. And that's just according to what we were told," Shikamaru pointed out. "But when are jounins ever told the truth about what happens to their genins during the exams?"

Temari adopted a sour look but any retort was cut off by Kotori entering the room.

"Both of your teams are moving on," she announced. "The second exam is already starting. You might as well go back to the inn, because the results of the second exam won't be known until another forty-eight hours have passed.

"Long first exam, short second exam," Shikamaru mused. "Forty-eight hours will be long enough to narrow down the numbers of genin for the third exam?"

Kotori smirked. "You jounin have enough trouble moving in our forest that your village asked for a guide. How do you think your genin will fare when they're out in the forest, away from all the traveled paths?"

* * *

When it had become clear that they would be completing the second exam in the forest surrounding the village, Naruto formed a clone to travel behind Konohamaru and Moegi while he forged the way in the front. He couldn't risk any more broken bones before the exam had even started.

A total of ten teams had passed the first exam. Less than half of those who had started out. With those numbers in mind and based on the fact that the second exam would be in the forest, Naruto was sure that a preliminary round wouldn't be needed before the third exam.

The explanation of the second exam had brought back memories for Naruto. Memories of his first training session, back when Izo was still alive and Yuri was in the village. Back when he couldn't understand any of Akahana's actions.

The second exam was a simple game of capture the flag. Oh, the irony.

Any team that remained in possession of their flag would move on. Once forty-eight hours had passed, they would be found—as long as they could make their way back to one of the paths—and they would be taken back to their original starting spot to show that their flag hadn't been taken.

"Here's far enough," the proctor guiding Naruto's team announced. "I'll stay with you until your flag has been hidden. The exam will start at sundown, which is in an hour."

Konohamaru and Moegi looked around for hiding spots but Naruto already had a plan in mind. He already knew of a sure fire way that the flag would remain hidden because only two people held the contract…at least as far as he knew. Naruto hadn't seen any other fox shinobi participating in the exams, so he assumed that it would be a safe method. From what he had gathered, there had been no survivors other than him, Hisano, and Kouzan.

Shaking his head to clear away the though, Naruto summoned a fox, a young male one that he guessed would be eager to take on the task.

"It's been a while," the fox chirped. "Ma thought you wouldn't call on us ever again. It hurts her feelings, not being useful. Wait, is that why you're calling on me? Trying to avoid a scolding, eh Naruto?"

"Hush, Shohei," Naruto muttered. "I need you to do something for me."

Ears twitched at the idea of a possible mission. "Oh?"

Naruto knelt down and tied the fluorescent green and neon orange flag around Shohei's neck. "Wear this for a few days," he requested.

Shohei tugged on the ends of the flag with his teeth, weighting his options.

"I'm not too sure about this," the young fox said, voice muffled by the pieces of flag in his mouth. "These really aren't my colors."

"It's only for a few days," Naruto said.

"But I have a reputation to uphold."

"It's only for a few days," Naruto repeated. Shohei sighed.

"Fine," the fox grumbled. "Just for something new to do. Things are quite boring nowadays."

The fox disappeared, leaving Naruto to look back at the proctor who nodded.

"Look in the tree trunks," he advised. "Remember that at sundown."

Then he disappeared as well.

"I thought you could summon toads, not foxes," Konohamaru said quietly.

"I can summon both now," Naruto announced. "I'm that awesome!"

Moegi giggled at his response while Konohamaru matched Naruto's wide grin.

"The other teams will never be able to find our flag," he said. "We get to go on to the third exam without even breaking a sweat."

"What are we going to do for two days, though?" Moegi asked.

"Hiding the flag is only one part of the exam," Naruto reminded them. "We still need to find a trail or other teams' flags to get rid of the competition for the third exam. Judging by the proctor's last remark, each proctor is telling a team where a flag is possibly hidden so less teams pass and to test how well we can defend our flag."

"To see what we focus on and how well we utilize our resources," Moegi realized. "To see if we'll go on the attack or hang back on the defensive."

"Of course we'll go on the attack," Konohamaru announced. "There's no reason to hang back now and the less people in the third exam, the better!"

Naruto held back a wince. Konohamaru sounded a lot like he used to a few years ago. So headstrong and always wanting to rush into things.

The Kyuubi inside Naruto made it clear that he was amused by Naruto's thoughts. The fox didn't believe that Naruto had changed that much and Naruto wanted to roll his eyes. He had changed but he tried not to make those changes noticeable.

"We can't do anything until sundown," Moegi reminded her teammate. "So in the meantime…"

Naruto felt a faint sense of fear as the girl glanced at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Who was the kunoichi the others saw you talking to?" Moegi asked. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Naruto protested, cheeks flushing red. "Of course not!"

"Yeah!" Konohamaru piped up. "Naruto's only interested in Sakura, right?" The younger shinobi turned to face Naruto, who blinked and blushed further, stuttering out nonsense as he did so. That seemed to satisfy Konohamaru but Moegi kept pressuring Naruto for information, wanting to find out who Akahana was. The genin team were the only ones that hadn't heard Naruto's story yet.

The blonde jinchuuriki was never happier to see the sun set. It allowed him to shush Moegi and Konohamaru, who were starting to realize that Naruto had a history with the village and some of the shinobi and kunoichi that protected it—a deeper history than he had wanted to admit to.

"What are we going to do now?" Moegi demanded as the forest around them began to blacken. "This was bad enough in the daylight? How are we going to manage at night?"

"Just follow me," Naruto said. "Step where I step and don't touch anything unless I do. This forest is fine once you get used to it."

"I prefer the forests around Konoha," Konohamaru grumbled as the team began to move. "Unless you're in certain training areas, nothing tries to kill you. Unlike here, where every step tries to kill you."

Naruto laughed but didn't dispute the fact when he heard an explosion in the distance. The second exam had started.

The Konoha team took to the trees. They were the most comfortable higher up and when they were in the trees, it was harder to be caught unaware. Not only did it allow for them to see what was going on down on the forest floor but it also allowed them to keep an eye on the time.

"Flag!" Konohamaru called when he spotted a bright color out of the corner of his eye—a color that didn't fit with the rest of the forest. He started to approach it but Naruto yanked him back.

"What are you doing?" Konohamaru demanded, rubbing the arm that Naruto had yanked.

"Did you check for traps?" Naruto asked. "No team would leave a flag out in the open like that unless they were sure that it was securely defended. Even I know that, Konohamaru."

The younger shinobi glared at him, upset at nearly being fooled by something so simple.

"Then what are we going to do?" Konohamaru demanded. "We can't just go without doing anything. Aren't we meant to take out as much competition as possible before the third exam?"

"We don't have to remove it," Moegi stated. "One of the purposes of this exam is to protect the flag. If it gets destroyed, doesn't that mean they failed?"

"Yeah, so what?" Konohamaru asked.

"We have long range attacks that could destroy it without us setting off traps," Moegi reminded her teammates.

"Wouldn't they have taken that into account?" Konohamaru demanded, glaring at the ostentatious flag. The longer they took to decide what to do, the riskier it got for them. While they decided what to do, it would be easy for another team to take them by surprise.

"Of course we did," a voice called from behind them. Naruto turned, pulling out a kunai and glared at the kunoichi that had approached the team from behind. She was grinning smugly as she moved her headband from her forehand to her neck. The insignia showed she was from the Hidden Stone Village.

"Did your teammates leave you here to protect your flag all by yourself or are they hiding somewhere?" Naruto demanded. The kunoichi's smile became even more smug.

"They didn't leave me alone," she replied. "See for yourself."


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto had seen a lot of things in his life. It was expected to experience the unnatural and witness jutsu and techniques that were just plain  _weird_  when one became a shinobi. However, giant creatures that were made out of stone, that could walk and attack just as quick as any shinobi, despite their size, was not something he had experienced before.

Konohamaru yelped as one of the stone beings tossed a tree trunk in his direction before darting off to the side in an attempt to avoid being squashed.

"What the hell are those?" Naruto asked. The kunoichi in control of the stone beings smirked and wiggled her fingers in a mocking wave.

"Your executioners," she replied before directing her attention on the stone beings. "Take care of them for me. Permanently." Then the kunoichi disappeared, certain that her orders would be carried out without issue. She had teammates to find.

Konohamaru and Moegi traded looks at her confident tone before examining their new opponents. There were five stone beings, all larger and quicker than they were. While the stone beings had been awaiting their orders, Moegi had thrown a couple of jutsu at them, in hopes of destroying one or two before the fighting began. Fire, water, earth, air…None of the jutsu she knew had even landed a mark on the beings.

"We should retreat," she whispered.

"No!" Naruto instantly decided. "We're shinobi of Konoha and we don't flee! We can take on these weirdos! They don't have anything on—"

His final words were cut off by a punch to the chest. The stone being followed Naruto's trajectory, delivering punches to the blonde shinobi whenever it could. Moegi and Konohamaru winced when the strength of the punches caused Naruto to fly into a tree and actually snap it in half.

"Naruto?" Konohamaru called, hoping that the being hadn't actually killed his idol. "Naruto?"

The two younger shinobi breathed a sigh of relief when they heard a faint groan.

"What do we do?" Moegi asked Konohamaru. "I don't know about you but my taijutsu isn't strong enough to break rock."

"We just have to try our best," Konohamaru replied. "Let's get where the forest is thicker. Maybe it'll be more difficult for them to move and we can trap them somehow."

Moegi nodded before sprinting toward the area Konohamaru had pointed out.

Naruto groaned as he felt his body being pushed further into the earth. One of the stone beings seemed intent on punching to the center of the earth, not giving Naruto any chances to recover. Thankfully all of the punches had been directed at Naruto's midsection and legs, not at his head. The blonde shinobi was pretty positive that was the only reason he was still conscious.

Despite being conscious, Naruto knew it was only a matter of time. There was no doubt that he had broken ribs and bones in his legs. Even if he stayed awake in the next few minutes, there would be no way he would be walking away unassisted from this fight.

The Kyuubi roared in Naruto's head, demanding to be freed. Naruto had tried to bring the fox out but the constant beating had prevented him from concentrating enough.

_Give up! Just give up and I'll do the rest. You'll kill us otherwise!_

"I don't give up," Naruto said weakly. The Kyuubi roared in rage, slamming to the forefront of Naruto's mind. As Naruto's vision reddened, he was faintly aware of the bones in his body healing and a horrible screech emitting from his mouth. Then everything went completely red and the Kyuubi was fully in control.

Kurama growled at the stone being, which hesitated, sensing something had changed. The brief second allowed Kurama to get a grip on the stone being and push upwards, forcing it away from the shinobi's body. As the fox pushed, the human body slowly got to his feet. Once both feet were on the ground, the fox gave one last push to put some distance between its body and the stone being. As the being began to charge at Naruto again, the fox channeled as much chakra as its body could stand before delivering a devastating punch.

Stone shards flew as the being shattered into thousands of pieces, cutting into anything that was in its path. The fox growled as it pulled a few shards out of its arms and legs before turning to face the rest of its enemy. One thing Kurama had hated in the past was pain and he was in a lot of it right now. He had learned that the only way to rid himself of the pain was to eliminate the problem and that was what he was going to do.

Moegi shrieked as she eyed a stone being uproot trees a few feet away from her, taking out anything that stood between it and its target. The kunoichi pushed further into the trees, hoping to put more obstacles between it and her. They weren't stopping the stone being but they were slowing it down for the time being.

As she pushed further into the heavily thicketed area, Moegi felt, rather than heard, the snap of a wire. Her eyes widened as the trip wire lashed against her leg and out of pure reflex, she was able to throw up a dirt and wood barrier between her body and the exploding tags.

Over the explosion, Moegi heard an earth-shattering inhuman roar. She cringed before looking back—just in time to see Naruto punching the stone being after her to pieces. The blonde shinobi barely stopped to make sure it was still before moving on to the next being.

Kurama, using Naruto's body, was able to finish off four of the five stone beings before collapsing from exhaustion. Moegi and Konohamaru had ventured out of the thicketed area to watch the shinobi in action, silently amazed at the show of strength.

"Push it towards the traps surrounding the flag," Moegi said, once it became obvious that Naruto would not be getting up again for some time and they still had one stone being to face. She had noticed that so far, the traps had remained intact. Hopefully there would be enough firepower in them to destroy the last stone being.

Konohamaru nodded in understanding before going to draw the stone being's attention.

"Oi, hardhead! Come and catch me!" he yelled, before darting towards his target. Moegi was running beside him, calling out instructions so that they would both hopefully survive this mess.

"On three, leap as high as you can and start climbing once you touch the tree trunk! One…two…three!"

Both Konoha shinobi pushed off of the ground, aiming for the tree trunk directly ahead of them. As soon as their feet touched the trunk, they raced for the top of the tree, not even hesitating when they heard the explosion of the traps being deployed. The tree began tilting and it was only the surrounding trees that kept it from falling completely to the ground.

"Did it work?" Moegi asked once it was silent. Konohamaru glanced down nervously before sighing in relief.

"It worked," he said. "Let's get Naruto and get out of here."

That was a plan Moegi would readily agree with.

* * *

When Naruto came to, he was lying on a tree branch a few feet above one of the main paths.

"What happened?" he asked with a groan and tried to sit up. He was too weak to even manage that.

"You were totally awesome!" Konohamaru said. "We didn't think we had a chance of getting out alive but then you took out four of them all by yourself! When did you get so strong? Can you teach me how to became that strong?"

"Sorry, Konohamaru, that's my secret," Naruto said with a weak smile. To be honest, he couldn't even remember that. He just reminded everything going red and then…oh. So that's what happened.

"A secret?" Konohamaru practically whined. "But Naruto…"

"Sorry," Naruto said.

"Me and Konohamaru took out the last one," Moegi added. "And destroyed their flag in the process. Needless to say, they won't be moving on to the third exam." The kunoichi sounded extremely smug at the thought.

"Good," Naruto replied. "I wouldn't have liked to face that kunoichi in the stadium during the third exam."

"Do you even know what the third exam is?" Moegi asked. Naruto nodded.

"It's always one-on-one battles, sort of like a tournament. Important people come to watch and gamble, I guess."

"So only one person is made chuunin?" Moegi questioned, sounding disappointed. Naruto shook his head.

"It depends on your performance," he replied. "Even if you win the third exam, there's no guarantee that you'll be made chuunin. Just look at Shikamaru. He was made chuunin despite all but defeating Temari and then throwing in the towel before claiming a victory. I still don't know what he was thinking, pulling a stunt like that."

"I don't either," Konohamaru agreed.

"How long was I out?" Naruto asked.

"Nearly a day," Moegi said. "The second exam will be over in just a few hours. We decided to get to a trail, just in case you didn't wake up in time. We weren't sure how we were going to get the flag back if you didn't wake up."

Nearly a day? Naruto's chakra stores should have been replenished if he had been out for that long but he still had barely any.

"I can't wait until this is over," he said, pushing away memories of the last time he was in this forest and felt this horrible. He and Kyuubi had separated and Yuri had just been able to save his heart from stopping. That wasn't something he wanted to repeat, especially without a trained medic around. As it was, Sakura was still going to have a lot to do, once they got back to the village.

The next few hours passed painfully slow. Naruto could still barely move and Moegi and Konohamaru were on alert for any sign of the other teams coming for them, thinking they were easy targets. As they waited, Konohamaru and Moegi told Naruto of their journey to the path. Apparently they had encountered Temari's team, but instead of trying to take on each other, they just passed without a word.

"Ittetsu and Matsuri looked like they were in bad shape," Moegi was saying. "They were still conscious but it was pretty clear that none of us wanted a fight."

"Be glad that this is only an exam," Naruto said. "If it was a life and death situation, they would have easily fought you."

"How do you know?" Moegi asked. The older shinobi sighed.

"Because I've seen it before," he said. "I'm starting to learn that it's pretty common and when the stakes are high enough, shinobi will turn on and kill even their best friend."

"That lesson is learned by every shinobi at some point in their life," a voice remarked. Moegi and Konohamaru withdrew their kunai and stood over Naruto, ready for anything. Their eyes were drawn downward, toward the trail, where a masked shinobi was waiting for them.

"The second exam is complete," the shinobi called up to them. "Now come down and show me your flag."

Naruto struggled to his feet, determined to walk out of this exam on his own two feet. He had just enough chakra to summon Shohei, who was reluctant to part with the flag. In the past forty-eight hours, the fox had grown fond of it and the fashion statement it had made. It took Naruto promising to find something similar for the fox to finally sit still long enough for Moegi to remove the bright piece of fabric.

"Ready to head back to the village?" the masked shinobi asked once the flag was in hand. The mask hid the smile as the three nodded, faces showing a mix of relief and exhaustion.

* * *

Sasuke watched as the four left, a masked shinobi in the lead and Naruto limping between two younger shinobi. It would be so easy to take them out, but it would reveal his presence and that wasn't something he wanted until he had gathered more information about this village.

He had been surprised to discover that the village was hosting the chuunin exams upon his arrival but it had made it easy to go undetected.

Sasuke was glad he hadn't moved from his resting spot a few minutes later, when a kunoichi walked right under him. A large cat prowled at her side, tail lashing.

"What a waste of time," it hissed.

"We knew not to expect anything," the kunoichi replied. "Yuri's smart. If she were still around, she wouldn't make it easy to find her. At least now she'll hear that we've been looking for her."

"And she'll do nothing about it," the cat snarled. "Like I said, a waste of time."

"You're boring me, Hotaru," the kunoichi said in a dull voice. Her hands formed a series of signs, before lifting them up to her mouth and exhaling. A large fireball formed and the cat began to chase after it, quickly becoming distracted. Sasuke had seen the signs performed in that series enough times to recognize the jutsu for what it was.

An Uchiha jutsu.

So secrets were already being passed on. He would have to take action soon, to prevent any more from being revealed.


	10. Chapter 10

When Naruto saw the first building, he pushed away from his teammates. He would walk on his own from now on.

The entire journey back, the shinobi had been silently berating himself. Something about that last fight had felt off and he needed to find out why.

And to find out why, he had to find Akahana. She was probably the only one that could decently understand his relationship with the Kyuubi and how that was affecting his shinobi abilities. Naruto doubted that if he asked a Konoha shinobi what was going on that they would be able to answer him but there was a high probability that Akahana would know what was going on.

The debriefing of the second exam and an explanation of what the third exam would entail was brief. Only four teams had made it to the third exam, including the Konoha genin. A genin team from the Village Hidden by the Animals had also made it to the final exam, as well as the genin team from the Sand Village. The fourth team came from the Village Hidden by the Clouds.

Once the debriefing was finished, Naruto followed Konohamaru and Moegi outside the room and blinked when he saw all of the other Konoha shinobi waiting for them.

"We saw you arrive," Kakashi explained at their confused looks. "We decided to come meet you for a meal before we go back to the inn. Before you can rest, you need food in your stomachs."

"That might have to wait," Moegi said. "Unless Sakura-san can heal us while we're eating. Naruto's hurt the worst."

"I am not!" Naruto immediately protested but already Sakura's eyes were on him. The blonde shinobi shifted under her gaze and the movement sent a jolt of pain throughout his entire torso and lower body. Immediately, Naruto could sense he had made a mistake and that he wouldn't be able to get away from the Konoha entourage until Sakura had taken care of the majority of his injuries.

It didn't mean that he had to put up with it quietly though. It was with numerous protests that Naruto, Moegi, and Konohamaru were brought to the inn and once inside, it took Kakashi, Sai, and Shikamaru to pin Naruto down while Sakura examined his injuries.

"What the hell happened to you in that forest?" Sakura demanded as she finished up her preliminary exam. "Nearly half of the bones in your lower body were broken and healed without being reset. You shouldn't be able to move, let alone stand and walk! I'm going to have to re-break half of these bones to set them right and heal them again. I don't know if you'll be ready for the third exam in time."

Naruto cringed upon hearing that but didn't offer any answer to the kunoichi's questions. Instead, Kakashi and Shikamaru gestured for Sakura to start the re-breaking and healing process. Both readily believed that the Kyuubi would be able to heal Naruto in time and weren't particularly worried.

A few hours later, Sakura was finished and deemed Naruto ready for an unbroken night's rest. Her words of warning to not move too much were barely heeded as Naruto pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to the other room.

The rooms at the inn were quickly wearing on Naruto's nerves. There weren't enough rooms for each shinobi to have one to themselves and therefore, no matter what room Naruto was in, there always seemed to be another one of his comrades waiting for him.

"Fire!"

Naruto stopped grumbling and his head jerked up. He poked his head out the window and looked around, wondering where the call had come from.

"Fire!" the warning call came a second time and it took Naruto a fraction of a second to realize that the inn was the building on fire. He grabbed his travel pack, which he hadn't unpacked yet, and went to warn the other Konoha shinobi. While they were distracted with gathering all of their supplies, Naruto took the opportunity to sneak out the window and climb on to the roof of the building next to the inn.

Shinobi from all villages were rushing to help put out the fire as the blonde shinobi made his escape. Naruto deposited his pack before rushing back into the building and searching for any other guests that hadn't heard the warning shouts. It was good that he returned, because Naruto was able to locate two civilian children trapped on the third floor, too scared to venture out of their room. He hoisted the eldest one onto his back before picking the younger one up around the waist.

The fire was closing up the entrance Naruto had taken into the room but a well-placed punch shattered the window and allowed them an easy alternate. Naruto leaped away from the burning building once again but this time, instead of stopping at the next building over, he made his way down the street so the two children weren't anywhere close to the former inn.

"Naruto!" Sakura called when she spotted him and waved him over. Naruto hesitated as he set down the children and looked around for where he was needed next. Sakura would be checking other shinobi over for smoke inhalation, he could deduce, but after the healing he had just gone through, Naruto didn't want to go through another examination.

Catching a feline form out of the corner of his eye, Naruto turned in the other direction and saw Hotaru pacing on the other side of the street. Her pacing was almost…nervous.

Not caring who saw him, Naruto went over to the agitated feline who the other shinobi were avoiding at all costs.

"Where's Akahana?" he asked when he got close enough. Hotaru snarled at him before she realized who he was.

"Doing something stupid," the hellcat replied. "What did you do? You smell different."

"Probably because I ran into a burning building," Naruto stated dryly. Hotaru shook her head and shoulders.

"No, not that," she growled. "I'm used to that. I'm not called a hellcat for no reason, after all. No…you smell almost  _edible_."

That comment sent a shiver down Naruto's spine. He had grown used to Hotaru over the months that he had worked with Akahana but it still creeped him out when Hotaru threatened to eat him.

"Something's wrong with me," he admitted. "I sensed it during the second exam. I was hoping that Akahana might have some ideas."

"What about your teammates?" Hotaru questioned, growling at a shinobi that ventured too close to their conversation.

"They wouldn't know where to start," Naruto said. "They know some things about Kurama but not as much as this village would."

Hotaru didn't reply as there was suddenly a large explosion.

"Fire must have found the gas line they use to heat the baths," the feline muttered. "That idiot kunoichi better have gotten out in time. I've spent too much time training her to be saddled with a barely trained child once again."

The hellcat must have forgotten that Naruto was there because she bounded toward the fire. The shinobi drew away as she passed them and Naruto's blue eyes widened as Hotaru leaped into the fire without a second thought.

"More and more it seems like the animals the shinobi utilize in this village have minds of their own." Naruto turned to face Kakashi, who was standing where Hotaru had been pacing. "They seem to be more than just summons, who will do whatever the shinobi who holds their contracts orders, despite some complaining. The ones here…"

"This is the village where all of the summoning contracts originated," Naruto informed his teacher. There was no point in holding back the information, since it could be easily found if any shinobi ventured into a library or government building. "Of course they're a bit different."

Kakashi stared at Naruto for a second before his one eye narrowed.

"I think I'd like to learn more about these original summons, especially that feline one that just left. Next time you meet with the kunoichi that works with her, you should bring Shikamaru and me along."

Naruto recognized it not as a request but as an order. He sighed.

"I can try," he said. "But neither of them particularly like people in general, let alone outsiders. I never figured out why they bothered putting up with me, especially when I see the way they treat others."

A smile crossed Kakashi's lips under his mask. "You have a way with people, Naruto," he said, "especially those that have been deemed outsiders. Beyond that, I think the answer will be a lot more obvious than you expect."


	11. Chapter 11

Naruto and the rest of the Konoha shinobi ended up being moved from the inn to one of the residential houses just outside the clan complexes. Those houses were typically reserved for those clan members that weren't active shinobi or that ran businesses in the commercial area of the village but since the civil war, quite a few had been abandoned.

The house they had been placed in was in good condition but it was obvious that no one had stepped foot inside it for quite some time. There was a heavy layer of dust over everything, the water was tinted from having traveled through pipes that hadn't been used regularly, and there was a faint scent of mold in the kitchen area and bathrooms.

"What can we do to help?" Sakura asked the shinobi that showed them to the house. "Your shinobi have been busy repairing other buildings, we've noticed, and no doubt that this fire will take them away from other needed repairs."

"The clans have been taking care of their own repairs," the shinobi replied. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Clearly things hadn't changed very much, despite the fighting the village had recently gone through.

"We want to help," Sakura said firmly. "So let us."

She and the shinobi stared each other down for a minute before the shinobi turned away.

"Be ready in the morning," he said. "A shinobi will come for you."

That shinobi ended up being Akahana. By the time Naruto had finished breakfast and was ready to go, Kakashi and Shikamaru had particularly cornered her and Hotaru. Judging by the bared teeth and the sheathing and unsheathing of claws, neither had been expecting their questions.

When Akahana spotted Naruto, she glared at him. Naruto shrugged it off easily.

"Aren't you supposed to be working with your genin team?" he asked. "They did make it to the third exam, after all."

"We meet in an hour," Akahana replied stiffly. "I was told that I should lead your group to the builders and shinobi doing repairs and that any of you that wanted to train should accompany me to the training grounds. While I train my team, Hotaru will make sure that none of you wander off."

Shikamaru and Kakashi traded looks, wondering who would be the best suited for going to the training grounds and analyzing what Akahana and Hotaru might be capable of. This might be their only chance to determine how the village utilized their summoning contracts and how the original contracts differed from the ones that shinobi like Kakashi had.

"Are we allowed to ask questions while you're training? There are still some things we'd like to evaluate." Kakashi asked Akahana, who gave him an incredulous look.

"You have time to talk while training?" she asked before snorting. "Doesn't matter. Ask all the questions you want but don't expect many answers."

After some silent conversations, it was determined that Naruto, Moegi, Konohamaru, Ebisu, and Kakashi would go with Akahana to the training grounds while the rest, including Udon, would go help with repairs. Between Kakashi and Shikamaru, Kakashi would be the best one to evaluate Hotaru compared to his own summons.

As they were getting ready to leave the house, Akahana took a closer look at Naruto. Hotaru had brought something to her attention the night before and she needed to see if there was any truth to the hellcat's claims.

When Naruto noticed her watching him, he raised an eyebrow and was about to ask loudly why but before he could, Akahana stepped toward him and noticeably sniffed him. Her actions gained her strange looks from everyone else, especially when she nodded to Hotaru, who purred smugly.

"What was that about?" Naruto demanded as Akahana stepped away and gestured for the group to start moving. Akahana shrugged.

"Hotaru was right," she said. "You do smell more edible than normal."

Sakura made a strangled choking noise in the back of her throat as she overheard the words. Naruto scowled at the kunoichi, who held a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"It's normal for her to threaten to eat me," he stated, "but why are you doing so? Don't tell me she's rubbing off on you."

"She's not," Akahana replied. "But Kurama is certainly affecting you."

Naruto's body stiffened. "What's he doing to me?" he whispered heatedly. "Is he the reason that I feel like I've been getting weaker instead of stronger?"

"Once everyone else starts training, I'll explain," Akahana said. "Just be warned—you may not like what I have to say."

Less than an hour later, watching as Akahana began to train the team of genin Naruto, Konohamaru, and Moegi would be facing during the third exam, all of the Konoha shinobi watching came to the conclusion that threatening to eat people was something that both Akahana and Hotaru shared.

"I can understand why you might have kept such connections hidden as long as you did," Kakashi muttered, wincing as he heard Akahana describe what she would do with one of her trainees if they didn't push themselves harder. Something about eel soup, boiled on the stove with other ingredients. Kakashi had drawn Naruto to the side to work on breaking genjutsu traps. "I've known a lot of shinobi but I don't think I've come across one intrigued by the idea of cannibalism."

Judging by the snorts around the training ground, his comment had been heard by everyone, including Akahana. Leaving her trainees under the watchful eye of three other cats she had summoned—one for each genin—the kunoichi strode over to Naruto and Kakashi.

"It's a good motivator," she informed the jounin.

"Empty threats can only motivate one for so long," Kakashi replied. Akahana smirked.

"Who said that they were empty threats?" she said before turning to Naruto. "Now to answer your questions. You aren't getting weaker. You're as weak as you would be without Kurama inside you."

"I was  _never_  this weak!" Naruto snapped. Akahana bit her lower lip for a second, thinking.

"Bad way to say that then," she said. "Think of it this way. From the moment you were born and the fox sealed inside of you, his chakra and abilities have influenced yours. It was controlled to some extent by the seal but it always influenced what you were capable of. Once you became aware of him and him of you and started accepting each other's presence and learning to work with each other instead of against each other, that began to change. You became more aware of what each of you were capable of and that allowed Kurama to control how his chakra influenced you, even going as far as withdrawing the remnants that had always been inside you. You had gotten used to it always being there and now that it's no longer there, you feel weak."

"Why would something like that happen?" Naruto asked. "Why would he do that?"

"By not being so connected or entangled, he and you are closer to becoming two separate beings," Akahana stated, looking over at Hotaru meaningfully. Naruto's blue eyes widened as he began to understand.

"No," he stated bluntly. "That's not possible."

"Not with how it used to be," Akahana pointed out. "Maybe he's trying something new."

As Naruto processed the new information, Akahana turned her head and yelled, "Hitomi, I know you're capable of moving faster than that! You might not be as fast as the others but you can do better than that!"

"Kurama?" Kakashi asked Naruto, raising his one visible eyebrow.

"The Kyuubi," the blonde shinobi admitted. "That's his name. Kyuubi is more of a title than anything."

"And what's this new thing that he's trying?" Kakashi asked. "It doesn't sound good, judging by your reaction."

Naruto scuffed the ground with his foot.

"He wants to try and separate from me," he said. "He managed to do it once but it nearly killed me and it would have killed him after a few hours. I guess he hasn't given up."

There were few things in life that made Kakashi Hatake nervous and near afraid but the thought of the Kyuubi actually taking on a physical form once again made it on that list.

It didn't matter if Naruto could control the demon fox or not.


	12. Chapter 12

Sasuke grit his teeth as he watched his target. He needed to question her, to see if she was the only one that knew his clan's secrets, but she was never alone. She was always with that blasted cat and quite frequently with shinobi from her village or from Konoha.

It stung, seeing her interact with people he had grown up with and had trained with but Sasuke was determined to not let his feelings for any of the Konoha shinobi get in the way of his mission. If they interfered with his goals in any way, he wouldn't hesitate to take them out.

For days, Sasuke had followed the kunoichi he knew used his family's techniques to see if he would lead him to her clan. From the intelligence he had gathered, clans were a large part of this village's structure.

However, despite what he expected, the kunoichi kept to herself. She lived alone, away from any of the clans. It had hindered him and forced him to change his plans from outright eliminating her to capturing her to gather more information.

Such an irritation.

The Uchiha stiffened as the pair he was following stopped in their tracks. The cat sniffed the air, growling softly.

"What is it, Hotaru?" his target asked. The feline switched her tail back and forth as she continued to sniff. Sasuke held his breath, hoping that he hadn't been discovered. He had been so careful but there was always the chance that something could go wrong.

"Naruto's coming," the feline finally purred. The kunoichi rolled her eyes at Hotaru's tone.

"Don't sound so excited," she muttered. "He's toeing the line. I don't understand why his teammates are allowing him to be so friendly. Shinobi from any other village would be worried about him giving away information or possible betrayals."

"He's too dedicated to his village," Hotaru replied. "I don't think they even see that as a possibility."

"His dedication wavered, once upon a time. Anyone's could waver, with the right persuasion," Akahana pointed out in a soft voice. "If it wasn't for the fighting, he might have stayed for much longer."

"He might have but he was always going to return to his birth village at some point. The Kyuubi's attachment to this village is strong but not as strong as Naruto's to Konoha. He would have never made his home here."

At that moment, Naruto darted into the clearing. Akahana stared at him with an indifferent look.

"I heard you had left the village," he said. "To look for Yuri. Did you find her?"

Akahana's indifferent expression went to something more closed off.

"If I had found her, she would have been brought back," she replied. "When I went out, I never expected to find her. She's too smart of a kunoichi."

Hotaru growled and darted into the trees. After a few seconds of debate, Sasuke followed her. With Naruto around, he wouldn't be able to get to the kunoichi but maybe he could capture and hold the cat. He could use it as bait to bring the kunoichi to him.

"That's the best compliment about her that's ever come out of your mouth," Naruto said, smiling.

"It's not a compliment," Akahana protested.

"You called her smart."

The red-haired kunoichi sighed. "It was a statement. Not a compliment."

"You liked Yuri. Just admit it. You're allowed to like people and have friends," Naruto informed Akahana. She glared at him.

"I had friends," she snapped. "Two of them died during the Day of Trials, defending our clan. One disappeared. One was killed during the civil war. Any I had outside the clan broke off their friendships as soon as we were promoted to shinobi."

Naruto's blue eyes blinked, slightly stunned by the revelations he had been presented with. The thought had crossed his mind that any friendships outside the clan were probably discouraged but this was the first time that it had been confirmed.

"Does that explain your interactions with Atsuo?" he asked. "He seems to keep an eye on you a lot."

Akahana smiled bitterly. "It's different with him," she said. "That relationship is too complicated to put a label on. Sort of like ours."

"I thought I was your friend?" Naruto's voice was shocked and slightly hurt.

"I just said that my most recent friends were either killed or disappeared. That's not a great record so if I were you, I wouldn't call yourself my friend."

"The threat of death has never stopped me from becoming someone's friend," Naruto announced. "Ask the Kazekage of Suna if you don't believe me."

Akahana rolled her eyes and a reluctant smile appeared on her face. "I don't think I'll ever have that opportunity. I was lucky to be able to leave the village to search for Yuri. Because of Hotaru, every shinobi in the village insists that I stay within its boundaries unless absolutely necessary. We've already lost so many of the clans' demon animals that we can't afford to lose any more. It wouldn't surprise me if the Soshikage debated about kidnapping you after the chuunin exams and forcing you to stay as well but I'm sure she's realized that it would be a bad idea."

"A very bad idea," Naruto agreed, wondering how his teammates would have reacted to something like that happening.

Mentioning Hotaru made Akahana look around and frown. She hadn't come back. That was odd. Usually when Hotaru decided to prowl while she was talking, she would be back within a matter of minutes.

"Something wrong?" Naruto asked and cursed when Akahana suddenly took off. He followed her, demanding answers as Akahana began scouring the forest around them.

As she searched, Akahana refused to call out Hotaru's name. If there were shinobi from other clans around, she didn't want to let on that something was wrong.

"What are you looking for?" Naruto asked when he caught up to Akahana. "What's going on?"

"How long were we talking?" Akahana demanded. Naruto stared at her incredulously.

"I don't know. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes? Why?"

"And in the past, what has been the longest you've ever seen me alone? Without even that nuisance that Hotaru can sometimes be?"

Blue eyes widened as the wheels began to turn in Naruto's head. He had never seen Akahana and Hotaru separated for more than a maximum of ten minutes. Even when training, Hotaru would return within that time frame.

"You think something's happened to her?" Naruto asked, beginning to look for the large feline. "Can something have happened in that short of a time period?"

"Izo was able to subdue Hotaru in less than three minutes, without her making a sound or giving a warning. Yuri could do it in five. It's definitely possible. Hotaru likes to fight her own battles. She wouldn't have called me for help. Stubborn feline."

"Sounds like many people I know," Naruto muttered under his breath. He glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of something Akahana might have missed. While he was looking around, he didn't notice Akahana stopping and he slammed into her back. There was a slight hiss of pain but other than that, the kunoichi didn't react.

Naruto looked at the redhead's suddenly pale face and then followed her eyes. They were focused on blood splattered across trees and leaves.

Swallowing hard, Akahana approached the closest spot of blood and dipped her finger in it. When her finger was coated in blood, she lifted it to her nose and sniffed it.

"Hotaru's?" Naruto asked. Akahana nodded and closed her eyes.

"I'm dead," she said softly.

"We can find her," Naruto assured her. "Let's go back to the village and get some other shinobi to help us look for her."

"No!"

Naruto stared at Akahana in disbelief at her outburst.

"Why not?" he asked.

"While some laws changed after the war, some also remained the same. One of the laws that wasn't touched concerns matters like these. No one can know. We need to find Hotaru alone, before anyone notices that we're missing."

"What's the law?" Naruto asked. "Is it really that bad?"

Akahana nodded, staring at the splattered blood.

"If Hotaru has been killed or if she's been kidnapped and taken outside of the forest, my life is forfeit. Like I said, I'm dead."


	13. Chapter 13

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked, looking around. The loud blonde hadn't been around all day and now she was starting to get worried.

"Probably getting up to things with that kunoichi," Sai murmured, and flinched as Sakura glared at him.

"Don't say it like  _that_ ," she said. "You make it sound like Naruto is interested in her."

"Isn't he?" Sai questioned. Sakura crossed her arms and turned away.

"Not romantically like your tone suggests," she spat. "Naruto might not be the brightest but even he knows better than to get involved with a kunoichi from another village."

Shikamaru cleared his throat and Sakura realized what she had said.

"It's different with you and Temari," she said. "At least we're allies with Suna, unlike our relations with this village."

"What, non-existent?" Sai asked.

"I'm not involved with Temari," Shikamaru protested half-heartedly.

"Because she hasn't said so yet," Sakura muttered under her breath. "And because you're too lazy to ask her properly."

The expression on Shikamaru's face made it clear that he heard her comments but he was ultimately too lazy to argue.

"We should probably go and find Naruto," Kakashi decided. "I'm starting to get the feeling that something isn't quite right."

Sakura nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly. She had been experiencing a strange feeling all day and it was just continuing to grow. Because of it, she wanted to make sure that everyone was safe—including Naruto.

For once, Akahana was uncertain of where she was in the forest. She had never realized how much she had relied on Hotaru's senses until now.

"You all right?" Naruto asked, as Akahana paused. The pair were tracking where Hotaru had been taken but it was a slow process. Whoever had taken the hellcat had been careful to cover their tracks.

"Not really, but that's never mattered before," Akahana replied dully, shaking her head to clear her mind. All of her focus needed to be on finding Hotaru.

"We'll find her," Naruto reassured the kunoichi. "And remember, Hotaru can take care of herself."

"I just can't imagine someone would have been stupid enough to go after her," Akahana murmured. "Nearly everyone in the village is terrified of her. The only ones who aren't are you and Atsuo. Izo and Yuri used to be among them but…" she trailed off.

"So someone not from the village?" Naruto asked. "That could be anyone, then, with the Chuunin Exams going on."

"Not someone that came for the exams," Akahana murmured.

"How do you know?" Naruto demanded.

"Just a feeling," Akahana replied. "Call it instinct." The kunoichi stiffened. "Get ready," she whispered. "Someone's approaching us at a very high speed."

"Just one person?" Naruto asked.

"Four are also approaching from the direction of the village. Use your ears for once, why don't you."

Naruto glared at Akahana but prodded the Kyuubi inside him lightly. The fox complied, though not without some grumbles.

"Are we just going to wait for them to show up?" Naruto asked. "I don't think that it's a good idea."

"Of course we're not," Akahana replied. "Just watch our back while I keep tracking."

"Can't you summon some other cats to help you look?" Naruto asked. Akahana's cheeks turned red.

"They won't allow themselves to be summoned by me," she muttered. "And because of that, I never received the clan's contract."

"They won't  _allow_  it?" Naruto asked, voice filled with disbelief.

"Cats have a mind of their own," Akahana said. "If they don't want to do something, they won't and no one can convince them otherwise."

"Is it related to Hotaru?" Naruto asked. To his surprise, Akahana shook her head.

"No," she said. "Remember, you have the fox contract despite being paired with Kyuubi. Being paired with the demon of the clan doesn't necessarily mean that you can't hold the contract. The contracted cats just don't like me. They always preferred Yuri."

"Probably because I always addressed them properly," a cool, yet friendly voice remarked. Naruto and Akahana withdrew kunai but didn't throw them. "You could never be bothered to remember their names, let alone their titles."

Naruto's blue eyes widened while Akahana's turned stone cold.

"Yuri?" they questioned together. The mentioned kunoichi dropped down from above them.

"You're alive," Naruto murmured. Yuri nodded and glanced at Akahana.

"You came back," the red-haired kunoichi said, voice emotionless.

"Not really," Yuri replied cheerfully but her eyes were dangerous. "Only to send a message."

"What kind of message?" Naruto asked. Akahana snorted.

"To stop looking for her," she filled in easily. "Did we mess up your nice and peaceful life with our questions? Brought back too many bad memories?"

"Oh, stop it!" Yuri snapped, suddenly appearing in front of Akahana. "I don't care if you think that I'm a coward for ensuring that I survived along with the children! I stayed away to make sure that someone remembered the village to pass on its history! So that the children who survived could learn from its mistakes!"

Akahana stared at her former teammate for a few seconds before turning away without a word. Yuri snarled at her actions but didn't try anything else, simply content to mutter a few choice words under her breath.

"Naruto, summon your foxes," Yuri said. "I'll summon the cats, since Akahana clearly can't. That way twice as many can be looking for Hotaru—and yes, I know she's missing. Anyone following you would be able to figure that out."

To Akahana's credit, she didn't react to the jab at her lack of abilities. She turned back to the trail, trying to decide which way to go next. Where they were currently at, the trail divided into three different paths—a tactic to try and throw them off.

"You have quite the convenient timing," Akahana murmured once the animals that had been summoned were sent off with their orders.

"I'm going to ignore that," Yuri replied, voice just as testy as Akahana's. "Don't take your worry and stress out on me. I'm not going to be your whipping post like the rest of the clan was. I know you too well by now."

"You  _knew_ me," Akahana corrected. Naruto sighed and turned his attention to the path behind the trio.

"Incoming," he warned. "The other four shinobi following us have caught up."


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto stared dully as Kakashi, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sai came into view. At his side, he felt Akahana's shoulders slump in slight relief.

"Having fun?" Kakashi asked, glancing curiously at Yuri, who looked prepared to flee at a second's notice. "We're not interrupting anything, are we?"

Akahana pushed Naruto forward. "You can explain," she said before picking up the faint trail again. She didn't have any time to waste.

Yuri watched her old teammate go with wary eyes. She didn't think it was a good idea for the kunoichi to go off by herself but what help could she bring? It had been months since she had done any type of training. She still had some abilities but her chakra control would be severely lacking by now.

"Who are you?" a pink-haired kunoichi demanded as Naruto quickly filled the others in, glaring at Yuri. The former kunoichi turned her head to stare at the fellow woman mildly.

"A friend," she replied simply. "And a messenger."

"You're not leaving already, are you?" Naruto asked, a hint of panic hidden in his voice.

Yuri shrugged her shoulders. "I'm of no use now so I might as well. It's been so long that my techniques won't work. I won't have enough strength or control."

"It's only been a few months!" Naruto protested. He was met with a bitter smile.

"A shinobi's skills are meant to be used daily," Yuri replied. "If they aren't, then all the progress you make since you first started training begins to regress. At least, that's what I've always believed."

"Still, from what Naruto's told us, any help could be welcome," Shikamaru said slowly, eyes watching Yuri carefully, analyzing and thinking. "And clearly you still have some power and chakra that can be used."

"Any help? Do you know this opponent that will soon be faced?" Yuri questioned, raising a dark eyebrow. Shikamaru shrugged.

"If they managed to take Hotaru, then they are stronger than the average shinobi," he stated. "I've been watching her and I know that she could do some damage. Hotaru is not one to be easily subdued but there are probably ways to do so that I don't know of."

"There are ways," Yuri confirmed. "When dealing with the demon of the clan, there are always ways to subdue them in case something happens and they lose control. However, only the elders or Akahana should know them. If the elders were involved, they wouldn't have needed to lure Hotaru away from Akahana."

"So you think it's someone else?" Kakashi asked. Yuri nodded.

"Part of the reason we hid the village from everyone, even the other shinobi villages was because the scrolls containing our clan secrets were being stolen and copied. Every summoning scroll that the outside villages have currently came originally from us. It wouldn't be surprising to find that there are some outsiders that have information they shouldn't have."

As Yuri spoke, Naruto glanced over at Kakashi, whose facial expressions were hidden behind his mask. The older shinobi gave no hint that he was in possession of one of those copied summoning contracts.

"We should go find the other female," Sai said suddenly. "It was her cat, so wouldn't she be a possible target?"

Yuri hid a smile at his comment while Naruto outright laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sai asked as they began moving and attempting to follow the path that Akahana took.

"When we get Hotaru back, I dare you to call her Akahana's cat to her face," Naruto said, grinning. The hide ripping that would result from that would make up for all the times that Sai had called him Dickless in the past.

The group didn't have to go far before they caught up with Akahana.

"Struggling?" Yuri asked quietly.

"Hardly," Akahana snapped in reply. "I'm listening."

"What for?" Sakura questioned. "Do you think that there's suddenly going to be a roar that will give everything away?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Akahana said. "Hotaru would never roar in this situation. No, I'm listening for something else."

"What?" Sakura demanded.

"Echoes," Yuri answered for her old teammate. "If you practice enough, eventually a shinobi will be able to tell where the clearings and thickest parts of the forest are just by echoes. She's listening for areas of the forest that have been thinned or cleared recently, since that's likely where Hotaru will be held or have gone through."

"I'm also listening for birds," Akahana added. "If there are no birds, then Hotaru is definitely around. Over the years, they've learned to flee whenever they sense her presence."

Kakashi and Shikamaru traded glances and gestured for Naruto and Sakura to remain quiet and ask no further questions. They were going to listen as well.

The group of seven stood in silence for a minute before they all reached the same conclusion.

There were no birds singing.

* * *

 

Large green eyes opened groggily and immediately became aware of a small creature invading their view. After a few seconds, the eyes snapped to full awareness, though the rest of the body the eyes were attached to didn't move.

"First time you've been knocked unconscious in a while, isn't it?" the cat in front of Hotaru mewed with a proud tone. "It's been a while, Hotaru. Still playing pet?"

Hotaru's body shook with growls though no sound came out.

"Silencing seal," the smaller cat explained. "I taught my human well."

Hotaru's green eyes left her antagonizer and looked further. There was a dark-haired shinobi setting up traps around the clearing and ignoring the two felines. One sniff revealed a similar scent to the one Hotaru used in the past to identify Naruto.

Hotaru's attention snapped back to the smaller cat when it swiped her across the nose. Why? she asked silently. Why?

"To be free," the cat answered. "To no longer to be bound by the original scroll. Once I have the human take care of you and your pet kunoichi, it'll be easy to destroy it. We can talk and think like them. Why shouldn't we be free like them instead of just tools to be used at their command?"


	15. Chapter 15

To find Hotaru, the group of seven had split up into two groups of two and one group of three. Sai had gone with Yuri, Shikamaru with Akahana, leaving Naruto with the two people he had known the longest. Sakura and Kakashi. Despite being close to Hotaru, there was still a large area that they needed to search inch by inch.

"This would be so much easier if we just burned everything to the ground," Sakura muttered as she once again got twisted up in a vine.

"The forest gives the village protection," Kakashi stated. "Just like the wooded areas around Konoha give our village protection. Shinobi villages are not supposed to be easily found or easy to get to."

"I know that, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered. "But you can't honestly say that you aren't sick of getting caught in something or slipping on something every time you take a step. I feel like a genin again, with no shinobi training whatsoever."

The pink-haired kunoichi glanced ahead, where Naruto was leading the way. "He makes it look so easy," she muttered.

"He's had some of the training that the shinobi in this village are raised with," Kakashi stated but he had noticed the same thing earlier. It looked too easy for Naruto.

"Halt!" Kakashi called a few seconds later when something caught his eye. "Naruto, did you step here?"

Naruto glanced down at the imprint of a foot embedded in the mossy tree.

"No," he said. "You don't want to step in the moss. It'll make your other steps more slippery."

Kakashi followed the footprint and wet marks a few meters away, the exact length for a shinobi's next step. He followed the wet marks and it became evident that whoever had left the marks had stumbled a few times.

"I doubt that these were made by a shinobi from the village," he said. "And we've never been this way before."

"What are you saying Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, crossing her arms as she stared down at the footprints.

"That there's a possibility of whoever took Hotaru wasn't from the village," Kakashi said.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Sakura protested. "Why would a shinobi from another village want anything to do with that cat?"

Naruto had a sinking realization.

"It actually makes a lot of sense," he said. "If they took Hotaru, it was a certainty that someone from the cat clan would follow. A majority of the shinobi hold the contract to the cats."

"What does that have to do with this?" Sakura demanded.

"The summoning scrolls originated in this village," Naruto said. "Along with the tailed beasts. Before the Village Hidden by the Animals hid themselves away, shinobi from other villages would steal the tailed beasts or the summoning scrolls. Most of the summoning scrolls that exist now are only copies of the original ones."

"But if the copies work, why would someone want the original summoning scrolls?" Sakura asked. Naruto looked at Kakashi, not quite sure of the answer himself.

"I'm not completely sure but it was rumored that holding the original scroll allows you to summon any amount or any animal of that type, even if they weren't bound to it," the older shinobi stated. "Other rumors say that possession of an original scroll could let you control the tailed beasts or demon animals. Naruto, does Akahana have possession of the original scroll?"

Naruto shook his head.

"People think that she does because she has Hotaru but Hotaru is more like the Kyuubi than anything else. The tailed beasts are just the demon animals," he explained.

Kakashi's words made Naruto's hands twitch toward the fox scroll that he kept with his kunai and shuriken. Did he have an original scroll? Were the rumors true and he would finally be able to control the Kyuubi with it?

The fox within him roared in protest, causing Naruto to give the tiniest wince. Kurama didn't agree with his thoughts and Naruto felt guilty that they would even come to mind. He had worked too hard to be able to work with the fox and not just be its jailer. If he would ever try to control Kurama, all the work he had done would be worthless and he would be back to square one.

Naruto was so busy thinking that he barely noticed when Kakashi and Sakura started following the trail that his teacher had discovered. He followed after them, mind still focused on the scroll in his weapons pouch.

Kakashi remained in the lead, following the barely visible trail closely. If they lost it, they would lose their best chance at finding Hotaru and her captor.

"There's a clearing up ahead," Kakashi announced a few minutes later, pausing. Naruto and Sakura glanced in the direction that he gestured toward. "The trail is relatively fresh."

"So you think that Hotaru is in that clearing?" Naruto asked. Kakashi nodded. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"We need to make a plan," Kakashi said quietly. "We have no idea what's waiting for us. We don't want to rush in there and do something stupid. Don't forget that this isn't just a rescue mission. It's also most likely a hostage situation."

Naruto sighed and fidgeted as Kakashi and Sakura began to lie out a plan. He kept glancing at where the clearing was. They were so close.

"Everyone understand?" Kakashi asked once the plan was developed as much as it could be in the face of an unknown opponent. Naruto and Sakura nodded and they took off.

The blonde-haired shinobi burst into the clearing and promptly had to dodge a kunai thrown in his direction. He turned his body, facing his opponent, and his mouth dropped open.

Naruto stared at the figure in front of him in faint horror. Hotaru was struggling behind her captor, trying to get free, especially now that help had come for her.

"Naruto," the shinobi said quietly. Blue eyes met a sharingan red.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, never expecting that she would meet her old teammate here of all places.


	16. Chapter 16

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" Naruto shouted, fists clenching in anger. "Why are you doing this?"

Sasuke gave his old teammates a blank stare. "It doesn't concern you," he replied in the same quiet tone he had greeted Naruto with. "Leave now, before you get involved."

"We're already involved!" Naruto snapped. "You kidnapped one of my friends!"

A dark eyebrow twitched upward in curiosity but Sasuke said nothing for a few seconds.

"What goals are you trying to achieve?" Kakashi asked the shinobi he had once considered his protégé.

"The kunoichi this summons travels with has something of mine and I want it back," Sasuke said. "So I'm trying to make a trade."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard!"

Red eyes glared at Naruto, who glared right back. The Kyuubi within the Leaf shinobi stirred restlessly, preparing itself for battle.

Sasuke frowned as a red tint began to enter Naruto's eyes. That was new. "You will not stand in my way, Naruto," he said, "like you've always done in the past. I will get my hands on the scroll that the kunoichi's clan stole from the Uchiha."

"Stop spreading lies," a cool voice came from Naruto's left. The blonde-haired shinobi didn't turn his head as he felt Akahana emerge from the trees. "The Uchiha were just one among many that stole a copy of the original summoning scrolls from our village."

"The Uchiha clan has never resorted to thieving," Sasuke snarled. "They were an honorable shinobi clan." Akahana let out a bitter laugh upon hearing the statement.

"All shinobi are liars, thieves, and murderers. It's in our job description. To say otherwise is to be a hypocrite."

As Akahana stepped forward to face Sasuke, Kakashi took a step back and gestured for Naruto and Sakura to do the same.

"There's no way of this being peacefully resolved, is there?" Sakura asked, keeping her eyes on the posturing shinobi. It was obvious that battle was going to break out at any second.

"Something's different about Sasuke," Naruto muttered. "His scent is off—like he's sick or something." The blonde shinobi was too busy focusing his improved senses that he didn't spot the appraising look that Kakashi gave him.

"We learned long ago that once Sasuke has a goal in mind or an objective to be obtained, there's nothing that can stop him," Kakashi said after a few seconds, keeping Akahana and Sasuke in his line of sight. His years of experience allowed him to see that both of them were ready to fight—it was just a matter of who was going to strike first. Kakashi braced himself but not to join the fight. He was preparing to intercept Naruto, who would surely intervene. The jounin didn't want to find out whom Naruto would go to aid and he was sure that it would cause problems later on.

Akahana shifted slightly so she could meet Hotaru's gaze over her opponent's shoulder and it was then that Sasuke made the first move. He darted at Akahana, who slid out of the way at last minute.

As Naruto saw Sasuke charge, he made to intercept his old teammate but Kakashi reached out and grabbed the younger shinobi, cringing slightly and nearly letting go when Naruto landed a solid punch to his stomach. His student's strength had certainly grown in the past few years.

"What are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto demanded as Kakashi refused to let go.

"Stopping you from making a foolish mistake," Kakashi hissed in Naruto's ear. "Exactly who would you be helping if you intervened?"

"Akahana," Naruto said fiercely. Sakura stared at him in disbelief and faint horror.

"That's—you would pick her over Sasuke?" the pink-haired kunoichi demanded. "What happened to the Naruto that I knew, the Naruto that would stop at nothing to help Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha?"

Naruto couldn't bring himself to meet Sakura's eyes as he stopped to consider everything. Yes, at one time, his mission to find Sasuke and bring his teammate back to Konoha was everything to him but things had changed now. This wasn't the Sasuke that he believed in.

But he had no idea how to explain that to Sakura. How could Naruto explain that he refused to take Sasuke's side because of the shadows he had seen in Sasuke's eyes behind the Sharingan? Because Sasuke had charged first? Because of the subtle change in his old teammate's smell that made both Naruto and the Kyuubi think that Sasuke was sick—almost rabid?

Naruto couldn't expect that Sakura or even Kakashi had noticed the changes he had. He himself had only barely noticed them with the Kyuubi's senses.

The blue-eyed shinobi was saved from answering by the arrival of Sai, Yuri, and Shikamaru. Shikamaru frowned when he saw the sparring duo.

"Is that Sasuke?" he asked, causing Sai to take closer notice of Akahana's opponent. Naruto also returned his gaze to the battling ninja.

"No, it's not," he said. "That's not Sasuke. At least, it's not the one that we knew."


	17. Chapter 17

Shikamaru and Sai gave Naruto inquisitive looks, silently prodding him to say more, but Naruto remained grim-faced and quiet—a rarity for the blonde shinobi.

"Naruto! Do something!" Sakura hissed. "Or are you that brat-faced genin again that freezes at the sight of battle?"

"What do you want me to do?" Naruto turned on his teammate, looking furious. "You already heard what I'd do and didn't like that answer."

"It's Sasuke though!" Sakura said. "We have to bring him back to the village! This is what we've been waiting for—what we've been training these past few years for us to do."

"I really hope that wasn't the case," Yuri murmured, only loud enough for Shikamaru and Naruto to hear—Shikamaru because he was right next to her and Naruto because he was still utilizing the fox's enhanced sense. "You shouldn't become a shinobi just for the sake of one person. One person shouldn't push you to train or to become the best you can be—especially one that reeks with a rabid sickness."

"Rabid sickness?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto shifted uncomfortably. All the shinobi winced when Akahana and Sasuke went flying back at the same time, both having been forcibly hit by the other.

"We don't really have words for what it is," Yuri explained quietly, drawing in the dirt. "The primary way that it's identified is by smell. We often smell this sickness on shinobi that have suffered incredible loss or are seeking revenge for something. It comes when they become mad, when they reach the point that there's nothing they won't do to carry out their mission, even if it means killing anyone who stands in their way, including their friends and teammates. They smell like a rabid animal to those who can smell it."

"And what normally happens when someone takes on this smell?" Shikamaru asked, keeping his voice at a whisper.

"I don't know what happens in your village, but normally when shinobi in our village smell it, it ends like this—a battle where someone must die. Normally it's the person with the sickness."

"Is there no coming back from it?"

Yuri shook her head. "Once they've decided that there's nothing they won't do to achieve their aims, that mindset sticks. It never leaves."

Shikamaru frowned but nodded. He looked over at Naruto, who seemed to be getting grimmer by the minute. Then Shikamaru glanced over at Sakura, who was looking between Naruto and Sasuke with a desperate gleam in her eye, silently crying out for someone to do something.

"We should make a plan then," he said to Yuri. "Sakura won't like it but she doesn't have to know the end game as long as she doesn't have to be the one to carry it out."

"Let Naruto and I take care of it," Yuri said. "We know this forest best."

Shikamaru heaved a sigh. "I don't know how much experience you've had with Naruto but he's not really the planning type. It'd be more troublesome than if Kakashi and I came up with something."

"We already have something in motion," Yuri replied. Upon hearing this, Naruto dropped back so he could more easily talk to the two.

"We do?" he asked.

"Trap layout forty-four," Yuri muttered. "The hardest part is already complete since we pulled out the cats and foxes to search for Hotaru. Setting it up should be easy enough since Akahana is distracting that shinobi with their battle."

"Sasuke would still notice," Naruto bit out. "He always does. Besides, we still need two more people for it to work."

"Tell us," Kakashi said, dropping down by the group, leaving Sai to keep Sakura from trying to convince Sasuke to come back.

"It involves layering a section of the forest with enough traps that nothing living would survive once it's set off," Naruto said reluctantly. "One layer underneath the ground, layers at foot, knee, waist, neck and near the top of the head, as well as one in the tree tops. Seven layers of traps total. Someone is positioned at each corner and the chakra seals to set it off are made at the same time. It has to be at exactly the same time, otherwise there's a possibility that the target can escape."

"Instant death," Kakashi murmured. "Sasuke is still a shinobi of Konoha."

"But from the sounds of it, beyond saving," Shikamaru said. Kakashi glanced at his youngest student.

"Do you think that too, Naruto?" he asked. "Do you think that Sasuke is beyond saving?"

"I like to say that no one is beyond saving," Naruto murmured. "I want to save everyone but…"

"But?" Kakashi pushed.

"But I think it's time that I accept that there are some people that don't want to be saved," Naruto finished. "And Sasuke has proven time and time again that revenging the Uchiha is the most important thing to him. I don't think he wants to be saved and if he's sick…"

"With a shinobi like Sasuke, we'll only get one chance," Shikamaru said. "If we have four, I say it's something we try. Do we have four?"

"One," Yuri said easily. Kakashi and Naruto stared at each other for a minute before nodding.

"Two," Kakashi said.

"Three," Naruto added, grinding his teeth together as he announced his agreement.

"Four," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"Naruto and I will set things up," Yuri decided. "And I'll post you when the time comes. Just make sure the battle isn't decided before then."

Shikamaru and Kakashi nodded and watched Naruto and Yuri slip away deeper into the forest.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he henged into Naruto. At Kakashi's inquiring look, he shrugged. "Sasuke thinks that Naruto would never leave while he's around. He'd become suspicious if Naruto did leave, so we need to make him think that Naruto is still around and being as stubborn as ever."

"Naruto has grown a lot these past few years," Kakashi said, mostly to himself. "I never thought he'd be capable of making the decision he just did."

"Neither did I," Shikamaru muttered. "But that just goes to show that he's still Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja."


	18. Chapter 18

Naruto grit his teeth as he placed the last explosive tag on a hidden wire among the treetops. Once he released it, he spun around and went to go punch the tree trunk he was standing in but stopped his first centimeters away from the bark.

"Why?" he demanded, keeping his voice as close to a whisper as possible. "Why Sasuke? After everything we've been through? Why did you come here and force me to make this decision?"

The only answer to his questions were the faint sounds of battle, coming from the clearing a few hundred meters away.

"Are you done?"

Naruto's head snapped toward Yuri, who had approached silently, stepping carefully in order to avoid accidentally setting off any of the traps. If just one went off, it would create a chain reaction that would kill everyone in the vicinity.

"Have you ever done this before?" he asked.

"This plan?" Yuri asked. "Never. Killed a teammate? Once."

Blue eyes widened at the admission.

"Remember when we first met?" Yuri asked. "In the hospital, after you were brought to the village and woke up? Ever since my talent in healing emerged, I worked shifts at the hospital, at first training and then taking care of injured shinobi. I was on a team before I joined up with Akahana and Izo. Ayako and Miyako, two of my former teammates died in a fire. Yazuki, the third, was badly burned trying to rescue them. He was in love with Miyako and when he learned that she had died…within hours, I could smell the sickness overwhelming him. He was actually foaming at the mouth in the last hour. As healers, we were taught to identify it and to go the Soshikage if we ever did. I…deviated from those policies."

"You killed Yazuki," Naruto said flatly.

"The hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Yuri said. "I smothered him in his sleep. It was better than what the shinobi sent by the Soshikage would have done and I couldn't let him live a tortured life. I know it was the best decision but I still question it every single day. You'll always question and regret making the decision but what do you think is harder—killing him or watching him destroy everything around you just to carry out his revenge?"

"I wanted to be like him," Naruto said. "I made him my rival because I wanted to be as strong as him. As smart as he was. As popular as he was. Once we became teammates, somewhere along the way, we became friends as well as rivals. I thought that making this decision meant that we've grown so far apart that he's just a stranger now. That all that history was lost."

"It's because of that history that you're able to make this decision," Yuri said. "You saw how he used to be and you've seen what he's become. Only the strongest can admit that there's just some battles you can't win and saving him is one of those battles."

"I don't want to give up," Naruto muttered stubbornly.

"You're not giving up," Yuri whispered in his ear as she gave him a quick embrace. "He's the one that gave up and let this consume him. You're just saving the rest of the world from him."

Naruto stepped away from Yuri. "Let's do this," he said firmly. "Before I change my mind."

"Your position is in that tree over there," Yuri said. "I'll go position the others. Remember the signal?"

"Get Sakura and Sai out of the way," Naruto reminded her as he nodded. Yuri nodded before bounding away.

* * *

 

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't we going to do something?" Sakura demanded as she watched Akahana and Sasuke spar with kunai. It went against all of her training to sit back and do nothing.

"We have a plan," Kakashi said. "We're just waiting for the right moment. We can't get involved just yet."

"When's the right moment?" Sakura snapped. "When one of them dies?"

"We're ready." Sakura glanced at Yuri in surprise as the kunoichi dropped down beside them. "I'll take the first group now."

"Shikamaru, you and Sai go," Kakashi said. "Sakura and I will stay here for a few more minutes." Shikamaru released his Naruto henge while Sai picked up his shinobi materials that he had lain out, preparing for battle.

As the three shinobi left, Sakura turned to Kakashi once more. "Kakashi-sensei, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Something that will stop this battle in its tracks," Kakashi replied. "You'll understand the plan at exactly the right moment. Don't worry, Sakura."

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Yuri returned. "Step where I step and nowhere else," she ordered as she led Kakashi and Sakura away from the battle scene. "The sign you need to make is the tiger sign and pulse your chakra along the wire. Kai will be the signal."

"How far away are we going?" Sakura asked, grimacing as she nearly slipped on a moss covered tree. Yuri glanced at her and the pink-haired kunoichi nearly froze at the sad look beneath Yuri's blue eyes.

"Just beyond the perimeter that's been set. There's a boulder you can use to keep cover."

"Keep cover?" Sakura looked between Kakashi and Yuri, a pit of dread growing in her gut. "From what?"

"You'll see," Yuri said. She stopped suddenly in front of a tree that was resting on a boulder, the rock being the only thing that kept it from being uprooted completely. "This is the wire," she told Kakashi. "I'll take my position and then it'll be time."

Kakashi nodded and stood beside the wire. He glanced at Sakura, who was starting to look worried.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said. And then Sakura understood.

* * *

 "I'm sorry, Hotaru," Akahana murmured as she lifted up the hem of her shirt, resting against a tree at the edge of the clearing. Both she and her opponent were taking a quick breather. The kunoichi bit her thumb and smoothed the blood over the mark imprinted on her stomach. It glowed for a moment before a flash of light shot out from her body to surround Hotaru. When it disappeared, the feline was gone as well and Akahana was grimacing in pain.

Sasuke glared at her and Akahana met his Sharingan straight on, too tired to even blink.

"She's no longer your hostage," she announced. "And I don't hold summoning scroll. I never have and I never will. You can no longer achieve your aims, so it's pointless for you to stay here longer."

"I won't leave until I've gotten what I've come for," Sasuke snapped. "You're weakening. How much longer can you hold out for?"

"I guess we'll find out," Akahana replied, withdrawing a kunai. She glanced over briefly to where she knew Naruto and the shinobi from his village were watching and blinked when she spotted they were gone. Instead, carved into a tree trunk was a large 44.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath and shifted her stance. The kunoichi regarded her opponent carefully, considering what to do next. As she hesitated, Sasuke charged at her, chidori prepared to strike. Taking a deep breath, Akahana waited until he was close enough to her that it would be difficult to change directions and follow her and then she leapt into the air, letting out the largest shout possible she could make on her journey upwards.

"KAI!"

Four sets of hands formed the sign of the tiger around the wire and sent pulses of chakra through it.

For a fraction of a millisecond, there was nothing. Then that entire section of the forest lit up, following an explosion that shook the ground for miles, all the way to the village.

When the sound of the blast faded, a loud cry hung over the ringing silence.

"SASUKE!"


	19. Chapter 19

Ears ringing from the explosion, Naruto darted for the clearing as soon as the smoke started to fade. He wanted—no, he needed to know.

All of the trees in the vicinity were burning or had turned to ash in the explosion, making the forest easy to travel for once. Naruto coughed a couple of times as the smoke started to overwhelm his senses but he didn't let that stop him. He didn't stop running until he reached the clearing.

Most of Sasuke's body was lying in the center of the clearing. Akahana was arranging the pieces so that it appeared he was still together, despite the fact that his legs, torso, and chest were in multiple pieces.

"Naruto," the kunoichi said when she spotted him.

"You know, I never really actually expected it to work," Naruto said, blue eyes watering. "I always thought he would be too smart for something like that to work."

"He wasn't in his right mind," Akahana murmured, limping over to Naruto and giving him a small embrace. She kept her left arm clenched around her midsection.

Akahana pushed herself away from Naruto as she picked up on the approaching footsteps. Heartbeats later, the rest of the group arrived in the clearing, which was now much larger.

"How could you?" Sakura demanded, gasping as her eyes landed on Sasuke's body. "Naruto! You promised to bring Sasuke back to the village!"

"Sakura, don't blame Naruto," Kakashi said tiredly. "He wasn't the one to make the decision."

"But he just stood there while you did!" Sakura cried. "How could you? What about all we went through together?"

"It was because of that that we were able to make the decision," Naruto said, refusing to let Kakashi to take all of Sakura's wrath for making the final call. He had taken part in it too. "He was sick, Sakura. It was a mercy."

"Was it?" Sakura demanded. "Was it?"

As the Konoha shinobi tried to comprehend the loss of someone who used to be considered one of their brightest protégés, Yuri drew Akahana off to the side.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "What about Hotaru?"

"I nearly got blown up," Akahana grumbled. "Of course I'm not fine. I sealed up Hotaru a few minutes before, though. Thanks for the warning."

"I've lost so many teammates," Yuri murmured. "I didn't want to lose you too so I gave you every chance I could. I'm just glad you saw it in time. Now show me your wounds. I can see that you're bleeding. Move your arm."

"That's probably not the best idea," Akahana said, the pain becoming clear in her voice. "My arm is the only thing keeping inside things becoming outside things." She gave a pained grin at Yuri's exasperated look.

"Lay down," the former medic murmured. "No doubts there's medics from our village on their way. I'll try and patch a few things up before they get here."

"You're leaving." It wasn't a question.

"Today just reminded me of my reasons for doing so in the first place," Yuri replied. "Please don't come looking for me anymore. I need to move on."

"I won't," Akahana murmured softly. "Live a long peaceful life, one that shinobi never seem to get."

Naruto started in surprise when half a dozen squads of shinobi appeared suddenly. He tensed up spotting the masks worn by shinobi from the Village Hidden by the Animals.

"What happened here?" One of them demanded.

"It's okay," Akahana called from where she was lying on the ground. "They saved me and took care of my opponent. There's no danger."

One of the shinobi ripped off his mask to glare at Akahana. "What kind of trouble are you getting into now?" he demanded.

Akahana gave a weak chuckle. "The kind that always threw Izo into fits, Atsuo," she said. The other shinobi rolled his eyes.

"Find and contain any fires," he ordered the other squads. "Tomohiro, take Akahana to the hospital for medical attention and inform her genin team that they'll be training with other jounin for some time. I'll help with the body."

Sakura flinched visibly at the lack of emotion in his tone but didn't say anything when Kakashi rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura, Naruto, go back to the village. Tell Ebisu what's happened," he ordered. "Shikamaru, Sai, and I will stay here."

The two Konoha shinobi nodded and reluctantly set off as Tomohiro gingerly picked Akahana up, careful of the wounds to her abdomen. It was a quiet journey back, with Naruto not sure what to say and with Sakura refusing to look, let alone talk, to her teammate. Akahana had passed out from the pain a few minutes into the journey.

Sakura stormed into their rooms, glaring at Konohamaru as he ran up to her and Naruto.

"We heard the explosion!" he said. "What happened? Was there a fight? Did Naruto do something cool to help win the fight?"

"Naruto killed Sasuke!" Sakura snapped. "That's what happened."

As Ebisu and his team glanced at Naruto in confusion, the blonde shinobi sighed, not quite ready to explain the events of the past few hours but forced into doing so regardless.

"So—" he began.


	20. Chapter 20

Shikamaru stared at the shinobi around the round table and the guards at the door. It had been a couple of weeks since Sasuke's death and it had been an emotional rollercoaster. Naruto hadn't been his normal upbeat self and withdrew from everyone, including Kakashi. Sakura was refusing to speak to Kakashi, Naruto, and Shikamaru, blaming them for Sasuke's death. She was still convinced that there was something they could have done to bring him back to the village alive.

Sasuke's body had been burnt to hide the secrets of the Sharingan and of Konoha. His ashes had been placed in a sealed vase that Sakura refused to look at. It was to be brought back to Konoha and presented to Tsunade, who would get a full explanation.

"I believe Konoha is up next."

Shikamaru tuned into the discussion at the round table and stood, preparing to make his speech. The third task had just finished and the kages and their representatives were in the midst of discussing who was about to be promoted to chuunin, going through the options village by village. After an hour of discussions, it was finally Konoha's turn.

"Based on the performance in the exams, despite the fact that he didn't win, and on his actions in the village between exams, Konoha only has one genin we believe should be promoted at this time," Shikamaru said. "Uzumaki Naruto. Are there three more votes in the favor of him being promoted?"

Konoha's representative stared down the others at the table, wondering who would place the first vote. He knew the votes would come—after all, Naruto had made a lot of friends and inspired many from their villages—but he was curious to see who would speak up first.

"I, Mako, the Soshikage, am in agreement for promoting Uzumaki. He has proven worthy of being a shinobi of chuunin rank by not only showing his skills but also showing that he is willing to help make repairs for a village that is not his own."

Shikamaru nodded gratefully to the Soshikage.

"I, Gaara, the Kazekage, am in agreement for promoting Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara said in his eerily soft voice. "He should have been made chuunin long ago."

Two down. Now Shikamaru only needed one more vote.

"That's the blond brat?" The Raikage asked. "The foxlike one?"

Mako stiffened slightly as Shikamaru nodded. The Raikage grinned.

"Then I, the Raikage, am in agreement for his promotion," he said. "That kid has a lot of spunk and determination."

"Three votes, four including mine," Shikamaru said. "The majority has spoken. Uzumaki Naruto is now a chuunin. With that, Konoha is done with their suggestions. I believe that Suna was next?"

* * *

"By accepting these vests, you agree to serve your villages faithfully as chuunin. You have shown the skill to be chuunin and the ability to make the choices that they are sometimes faced to make. With these vests come additional responsibilities but we are confident in your abilities to carry them out. Wear these vests proudly."

As the chuunin vests were handed out, the stadium burst into claps and cheers. Naruto accepted his vest without a word or gesture of celebration, simply nodding his head. He shrugged it on, mentally cringing as he did so, knowing the price this vest carried.

He wasn't stupid. Naruto knew that the primary reason he had received this vest was because he had made the call to kill Sasuke. It would be his constant reminder of the decisions he had made, the ones that he would always regret.

As soon as he could, Naruto fled the stadium, not wanting to be congratulated at all. The blue-eyed shinobi wandered the village until he stood in front of the fox clan compound.

"I suppose you'll be going home soon."

Naruto raised his head and stared at Akahana, who was walking toward him slowly. An arm was wrapped around her abdomen, as if it still pained her.

"At dawn," he said. "Are you supposed to be out of the hospital yet?"

"I wasn't about to miss the ceremony," Akahana said. "I promised my students."

"They did well, even if one didn't get promoted," Naruto said. "So, what happens next?"

"Hotaru's still sulking and I won't be put onto active duty for another few weeks," Akahana said. "I'll probably get assigned another genin team so they can limit how much trouble I cause. What about you?"

"There's a few things I need to finish," Naruto said. "You've heard of the Akatsuki?"

Akahana gave a small nod. "Not much but enough to know they're a threat. I wish you luck."

The pair was silent for a few minutes.

"So many lives have been lost in this village," Naruto said. "How can you stand it?"

"By focusing on building the lives of the younger villagers and shinobi," Akahana replied. "By focusing on my goals for the future. And by focusing on the friends I still have. With each close person I lose, the remaining people I have become closer. Keep your special people close, Naruto, and keep focusing on your goals."

"I will," Naruto replied. "Atsuo cares about you; did you know?"

Akahana gave an awkward cough. "It's complicated," she replied. "Just like it's complicated with you."

The silence resumed.

"Akahana!"

Kotori's voice rang through the air, sharp and clear. Akahana sighed and she turned to Naruto.

"They won't let me out again," she said, glancing at Kotori. "So this is goodbye. I really hope to see you again, though if I don't…I understand."

"Yeah, goodbye," Naruto said. "The next time you see me, I'll be Hokage!"

Akahana rolled her eyes as she walked away. "All right then, future Hokage," she drawled. "And I'll be Soshikage and it'll be an alliance unlike any shinobi nation has ever seen before."

"I'll hold you to that," Naruto said. Akahana gave him a small grin.

"Same here. Don't let me down. We both have something to live for now."

For the first time in weeks, Naruto felt a smile creep onto his lips as he watched Akahana walk away, followed by Kotori who was looking at her fellow shinobi suspiciously. He had lost a lot but Akahana was right. He still had a lot to live for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I enjoyed writing it for the most part, especially those last few chapters. I can't say if there will be a sequel. I had started planning one but I've sort of fallen out of the Naruto fandom in the past few months and it's been a struggle to write anything at all. I hope I'll get around to writing the sequel eventually since there's a lot of aftermath to this story and Born on a Border that I want to develop further but right not there are no guarantees.
> 
> Anyways, once again I hope you enjoyed this story!
> 
> Cheyla


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